The pound

1984ReturnsForReal_2

StevieJ wrote: »

Pretty handy if, as Gen and Dopester believe the major threat is still deflation

I think it's quite evident that the Government have no problem with companies profiteering at the moment.

(Not that they have had a problem with that since "New Labour" got elected)

worldtraveller

michael1983l wrote: »

It's alright we can sell our gold reserves at record prices to get us out of the poo poo.... oh.... Brown did that back in the boom of 2001 when the gold prices was at one of its lowest......


In the voice of homer..... DOH!

Yeah, but maybe he's a good forecasting tool!

Degenerate

Graham_Devon wrote: »

It's been falling for a while, but today seems to have fallen pretty sharply.

You really need to look at the actual graphs rather than relying on idiot journalists. They only look at exchange rates when a bit of economic news comes in (like the Fed tinkering with their discount rate today), then report the most recent bit of noise on the graph as if it is significant. They love to seize upon things like todays "nine month low" (which is true, but it's only a smidgen lower than 11 days ago.)

The pound has not been "falling for a while". Against the dollar it fell (with the Euro) at the start of Feb, bounced around a steady level for a week and a half, then took a dip today when the Fed's decision was announced.

And in general, why is it weakening?

You could just as well ask, why is the dollar strengthening? At the moment the pound seems to be taking a middle course between a weakening Euro and strengthening dollar. This is fairly typical. Obviously some movements are GBP-led, like the large depreciation of the pound after the BOE slashed rates in late 2008, but sometimes it's about the other currencies.

Rochdale_Pioneers

As usual, some facts would be useful....

Pound vs the Dollar, last 12 months



Pound vs the Euro, last 12 months

Kohoutek

As usual your short-sighted viewpoint obscures the truth

GBPUSD Medium term



GBPEUD Medium term`

Rochdale_Pioneers

And go back a few years more and see that $2=£1 was a short-lived abberation.

Are you suggestion that the best course of action for the UK would be to sustain the pound at a level which was eye-wateringly painful to exporters at the time?

Graham_Devon

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

As usual, some facts would be useful....

Pound vs the Dollar, last 12 months

Yer, but, well. It's obvious to pretty much anyone that if that chart was over the last 3 years, instead of 12 months, the drop would be huge.

Ahhh, kahoutek already got there!

Kohoutek

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

And go back a few years more and see that $2=£1 was a short-lived abberation.

Are you suggestion that the best course of action for the UK would be to sustain the pound at a level which was eye-wateringly painful to exporters at the time?

It wasn't a devaluation through choice was it? I seem to remember for the last ten years we've been pretty comfortable with importing virtually everything.

I hope the government seizes this opportunity to support British exports, but sadly we're never going to go back the 70s when manufacturing was the majority of our economy.

Kohoutek

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Yer, but, well. It's obvious to pretty much anyone that if that chart was over the last 3 years, instead of 12 months, the drop would be huge.

Ahhh, kahoutek already got there!

It's not just the dollar and euro either...it's the Indian rupee, Thai Baht, Brazilian Real. They've all gained 25% on the pound.

Those developing economies that actually make stuff are quickly catching up with us.

Luckily the Chinese Yuan is still artificially undervalued...if it matched purchasing power Chinese goods would be twice as expensive.

Rochdale_Pioneers

Kohoutek wrote: »

It wasn't a devaluation through choice was it?

Was it a valuation through choice?