Multiplex Index: The Bank-Job Edition

Though no one saw Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy this weekend (seriously, who allows this man to continue headlining movies), it might be the perfect title to describe what's going on with currencies today.

Thanks to our handy-dandy currency converter, a movie ticket in Madrid might be your best bet today. But, in truth, all of today's prices are tracking well below our first day's totals over a week ago thanks to a stronger dollar. Thus, ticket prices in any of these foreign locales may look like a steal in comparison to a ticket in Queens.

Who do we owe for this recently beefed up dollar and the resulting extra change for goobers? Thanks can largely go to the World Bank, who today issued a gloomy forecast about global economic health. The group estimated that the global economy would contract by 2.9% in 2009, which is far worse than the 1.7% the group had forecast earlier. With no hope of global economic recovery in the near term, stocks and commodities nosedived today.

But the good old greenback rode to the rescue for many investors on the day, who saw the dollar as a safe bet during the tumultuous ride.

All of this shuffling comes just ahead of the Federal Reserve's much anticipated Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Investors will be reading the Fed's tea leaves this week to decipher whether inflation is on the horizon and if the U.S. economy beginning to recover.

Though if you already took a chance on Murphy's latest film outing, maybe the worst is already behind you.

With that, let's take a look at today's tally, with changes reflected since our last update...