One world

Small but compelling economic tidbit from today's WSJ re the impact of the Catastrophe on currency exchange rates and Japanese exports:

Many exporters, including Toyota Motor Corp., had assumed a dollar exchange rate of 105 yen, making the sharp drop in the yen in recent weeks particularly damaging to their bottom lines. In Toyota's case, every time the dollar's value drops by one yen, its annual operating profit is cut by 40 billion yen, or about $400 million.