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. ...