The value of the British Pound

sgarrod79 wrote: »

Indeed, but it is not Brexit itself that is the reason for the drop but the Bank of England's decision to trigger an unnecessary second rate cut and round of QE. Money printing has never been kind to the value of currency.

I'd say the balance of trade deficit and the budget deficit. Brexit has merely brought the UK into primary focus in the markets. The issues have been discussed for a very long time. Now it's time to face reality.

jumperabv3 wrote: »

Bank of England did what it did because of Brexit ... without Brexit it wouldn't have touched the rates...

GBP/USD is going towards the $1.21 territory, quite shocking ...

has the unprecedented large deficit in the trade balance for the last few yearsbeen a result of brexit?
has the continual decline in the UK net foreign assets been a result of brexit?
has the continual decline in the net foreign dividend transfers been a result of brexit.

jumperabv3 wrote: »

Try to get a vacation (sorry, holiday) in the US now and tell me if I'm insane or perhaps it's the currency that is speaking for itself.

If people are not concerned from having a weaker currency (it has lost over 20% of its value against the dollar since Brexit, OVER 20%) - if that's business as usual for you then honestly I don't know what else to say.

Seeing the GBP as $1.21 against the US Dollar is definitely not business as usual for me.... maybe exporters are laughing but importers are going to raise prices now .... or go bankrupt - whichever that is - it's not going to be good for the economy.

I wonder what the price of US Cars or even Japanese ones are going to be now that the currency has fallen into unforeseen territory ... it's cars, holidays, groceries and goods you buy at Tesco, Sainsbury's, M&S and more...

Seriously if you can't see the problem then you probably don't understand how important the value of your currency is.

You appear to be struggling with post gfc economics.

One of the major aims of ultra low interest rates, as well as trying to inflate away the debt that should have been written off in 2009 and stimulating the economy, is to devalue currencies relative to their major ones.

All the major economies have been trying to devalue for nearly the last decade, for example the relative strength if the yen has been a huge concern for the Japanese government given their economy is so reliant on exporting.

The relative volatility of the pound over the last few months is as much a point for concern as its absolute strength, like Brexit it's the uncertainty that can be damaging for businesses and many people in the shirt to medium term.

Some people will gain and some will lose, if you hold equities in non uk markets then you've effectively had a large boost to your holdings in sterling terms. If you are going on vacation then things will be more expensive, simplistically you'll have to work say 20% harder to buy the same holiday, if you can't afford that then you can't take the holiday.