Money and Metals

The Independent had this report on a discussion with Fed boss Alan Greenspan. "Bitter disagreements over global economic policy broke out into the open yesterday as the French Finance Minister claimed that Alan Greenspan had admitted America had 'lost control' of its budget."

"In an extraordinary revelation after a meeting between Thierry Breton and Mr Greenspan, M. Breton told reporters: 'We have lost control,' that was his [Mr Greenspan's] expression. 'The US has lost control of their budget at a time when racking up deficits has been authorised without any control [from Congress],' M. Breton said."

"'We were both disappointed that the management of debt is not a political priority today. The situation that is creating tension today on the currency market...is clearly the American deficit.'"

"A clearly irritated senior US Treasury source said: 'Things can get lost in translation.'"

"Speaking at a meeting of the International Institute of Finance, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China's central bank, said people were right to worry about imbalances. 'The US has always run a fiscal imbalance and current account imbalance but in the recent two years we see the magnitude of the deficits is historically high. People start to worry,' he said."