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Sudesh
04-09-2008, 10:31 AM
Thought this may be worth knowing if buying stuff from the states.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7595518.stm


The pound has continued to fall against the US dollar, hitting its lowest level since April 2006 on fears that the UK is heading into a recession this year.

Sterling fell to a low of $1.7771, and was recently trading at $1.7668. The weak pound weighed on shares, and the FTSE 100 stock index lost more than 2%.
Sterling has fallen sharply over the past month, down from July highs that saw one pound buying two dollars.
Wednesday's slide comes as the Bank of England starts a rate-setting meeting.
The Bank is due to give its verdict on interest rates at midday on Thursday, with most analysts expecting it to keep borrowing costs unchanged at 5%.
Measured against a basket of currencies used by the UK's main trading partners the pound is at a 12-year low.
Earlier on Wednesday, the pound had staged a small rally after better than expected figures on the service sector.
However, analysts had warned that any rebound may be short-lived because of the negative sentiment surrounding the currency.
Any rise in the pound would give "an excuse to sell sterling again at slightly better levels", said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at BTM-UFJ bank.

Difficult outlook

The US currency has been gaining ground in recent weeks and on Tuesday the euro fell to a eight-month low versus the dollar, dipping to below $1.44.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44979000/gif/_44979280_poundvsdollar_226.gif

Falling oil prices, which hit a five-month low on Wednesday, have been a factor behind the dollar's rally.
Investors had bought commodities to protect against the dollar's weakness earlier this year but are now unwinding those positions - to the US currency's benefit.
Analysts also said the dollar was strengthening because the US economic outlook appeared better than the deteriorating picture in the UK and the eurozone economies.
"We're seeing a continuation of the trend where sentiment on the rest of the world is deteriorating while sentiment in the US is improving, albeit from a very low base, and the dollar is outperforming as a result," said Adam Cole of Royal Bank of Canada. Gloomy comments over the weekend from UK Chancellor Alistair Darling, who warned that Britain was facing its toughest economic challenge for 60 years, triggered sterling's plunge on Monday, which were exacerbated when the OECD predicted that the UK would be the only major industrial country to plunge into recession this year.

AR
04-09-2008, 11:20 AM
The more they keep going about it the worse it gets.

If the media stopped all this talk about recession I am sure things will get better.

JMHO

Cheers,

Ary

simonprelude
04-09-2008, 11:20 AM
I usually monitor the dollar very carefully, not looked much for the last 6 weeks and now shocked. Glad I have no US interests at the moment, it should help UK exports at least which might help the economy.

eclipse1501
04-09-2008, 11:41 AM
The £/Euro here is the same, the £ is 1.19 to the Euro today and the coast is suffering from the effects of a weak £ with tourism and investment slowing down drastically. Here we are all now paying for the excesses of a few over the last few years steering a false economy driven by OTT Mickey Mouse housing prices and underwritten by greedy investors who still believed the hype and glossy brochures and expected a quick profit - but now can't even pay the mortgages on their second homes in the sun let alone rent them out for profit.

Sudesh
29-10-2008, 11:10 PM
There has been quite a noticable drop the past few days which is worth watching [imop], if your bringing stuff from the US.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5021391.ece

Sterling plunged against the dollar, having fallen through $1.60 for the first time in five years on Friday. The pound lost a further 3 cents to $1.542 amid mounting fears of a prolonged UK recession, but recovered to $1.5670 by late afternoon.

NoelWatson
30-10-2008, 07:30 AM
The £/Euro here is the same, the £ is 1.19 to the Euro today and the coast is suffering from the effects of a weak £ with tourism and investment slowing down drastically. Here we are all now paying for the excesses of a few over the last few years steering a false economy driven by OTT Mickey Mouse housing prices and underwritten by greedy investors who still believed the hype and glossy brochures and expected a quick profit - but now can't even pay the mortgages on their second homes in the sun let alone rent them out for profit.

The UK is suffering the same problem - massive debt, collapsing housing market due to unprecedented bubble - we are in for a tough few years.

dan the man
01-11-2008, 12:04 PM
Someone sle said that to me..next few years its gona be hard. we shall see.