MSE News: The pound hits €1.40, should you buy now for the summer?

antenna

A Big King in Burger King Fuengirola 1.99 euro.....thats £1.40......that's my lunch sorted.

agarnett

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

I had thought we would never see that again. Now I'm not so sure. Even yesterday's 1.40 seems poor compared to 1.4247 at this minute.

Yes - the system is falling apart at the seams - where did that stupid bloody exchange rate come from this morning ? The fixers are still at it. Check out the gold price fixing in dollars pounds and euros. That is where a hefty part of the inertia for gbp/eur, gbp/usd and usd/eur comes from.

Total manipulation by a handful of good old boys not even basing it on any kind of real volume of trade - just like LIBOR, and the usual culprits too :mad:

There's a morning and afternoon gold fix, and a midday silver fix in the same three currencies. Check it out again later today.

Siguy

I have £2000 spending money to convert to euros, I'm thinking of taking the 1.40 now on £1000 and waiting to see what happens before I exchange the other £1000. If say, for example the euro went down to 1.30, I'd average 1.35 (better than 1.30), if it goes to 1.50, I'd still average 1.45, which is still better that the 1.40 if I exchanged it all right now?

agarnett

agarnett wrote: »

There's a morning and afternoon gold fix, and a midday silver fix in the same three currencies. Check it out again later today.

There you go. This morning's gold fix implied GBP/EUR = 1.4245. The midday silver fixed has implied an easing to 1.4204 and hey presto, the midpoint that Google uses when you search for say "100gbp in eur" has now dipped fractionally below 1.42.

You need to be cynical in this market, or an insider :mad:

antenna

Siguy wrote: »

I have £2000 spending money to convert to euros, I'm thinking of taking the 1.40 now on £1000 and waiting to see what happens before I exchange the other £1000. If say, for example the euro went down to 1.30, I'd average 1.35 (better than 1.30), if it goes to 1.50, I'd still average 1.45, which is still better that the 1.40 if I exchanged it all right now?

That makes total sense

shapala

agarnett wrote: »

Yes - the system is falling apart at the seams - where did that stupid bloody exchange rate come from this morning ? The fixers are still at it. Check out the gold price fixing in dollars pounds and euros. That is where a hefty part of the inertia for gbp/eur, gbp/usd and usd/eur comes from.

Total manipulation by a handful of good old boys not even basing it on any kind of real volume of trade - just like LIBOR, and the usual culprits too :mad:

There's a morning and afternoon gold fix, and a midday silver fix in the same three currencies. Check it out again later today.

Yes, makes sense doing this. However, having worked in this particular sector, I have no belief things will change. In fact, there's nothing to suggest the € will recover against the pound now that there's growing uncertainty with both Greece but now Austria. It's another reason that the single currency can't and won't work, and this will help us wanting to buy €'s in the coming weeks/months.

Pincher

Pincher wrote: »

I hardly ever need actual cash any more. It's usually for really small amounts.

St. Peterburg, outside St. Isaacs on the Spilt Blood. Old lady will not accept my EUROs for the toilet: kopek ONLY! Breakfast and supper are on the cruise ship, Lunch and show included in the excursion. Souvenir shops take credit card. Where do I get kopeks from? Millions of tourists pass through that cathedral, take EUROs, it's worth MORE!

benjus wrote: »

Depends which European country you mean. Germany, for example, is still very cash-oriented in terms of smallish payments (cafes, bars etc).

I have been to Germany over 20 times. Nephew is all grown now.
Still have some Deutsch Mark coins jingling in some old film canisters. First Direct used to issue a Eurocheque cheque book, and the cash guarantee card guaranteed Eurocheques as well. So convenient.

Spike44

I have always considered Ryanair to be after everything they can extort from their passengers but they surpassed themselves with their in-flight exchange rate. On Sunday on a flight from Bristol to Budapest I paid for refreshments in Sterling instead of the menu currency of Euros. The rate I received was 1.086 Euros to the pound. Has anyone received a worst rate recently or is this a record.

zagfles

Spike44 wrote: »

I have always considered Ryanair to be after everything they can extort from their passengers but they surpassed themselves with their in-flight exchange rate. On Sunday on a flight from Bristol to Budapest I paid for refreshments in Sterling instead of the menu currency of Euros. The rate I received was 1.086 Euros to the pound. Has anyone received a worst rate recently or is this a record.

They used to use a 1.00 rate ie 1EUR=1GBP. Trick was, to pay with a 50EUR note and ask for the change in GBP! So buy a drink for 3EUR and get 47GBP in change for your EUR50 note :beer:

Not sure if that still works!

SaveTheEuro

Spike44 wrote: »

I have always considered Ryanair to be after everything they can extort from their passengers but they surpassed themselves with their in-flight exchange rate. On Sunday on a flight from Bristol to Budapest I paid for refreshments in Sterling instead of the menu currency of Euros. The rate I received was 1.086 Euros to the pound. Has anyone received a worst rate recently or is this a record.

That exchange rate is ridiculous. I always pay in euros when buying a cuppa on Ryanair.