Speculators betting the £ down?

[sjn2004]

Just saw a piece on Bloomberg that speculators are betting that the Bank of England will reduce interest rates to 0% which in turn is causing a massive devaluation of Sterling(today drop of 3% against the dollar). Despite all the problems these people have caused, why do they still allow them to play games with countries economies?

[ShadownINja]

Because they are valuing a given country against another. If England is st compared to America, should the pound be strong compared to the dollar?

[Police State]

ShadownINja said:

Because they are valuing a given country against another. If England is st compared to America, should the pound be strong compared to the dollar?

that's the civilised term for it; the truth is they are taking us to the cleaners.

[ShadownINja]

Well, I guess we could join the Euro!

[Tuska]

Its like a big cheese rolling down a hill.
Right or wrong has very little to do with the momentum of the market.......

[XJSJohn]

Whatever it is, its pissing me off because i had a nice dividen paid in sterling but i want to convert it to local currancy, and currently i get hammered for about 30% less than it is traditionally worth on exchange rates...

[welshbikerduck]

Going skiing in January, looks like i should have got my Euros before now. It can't get any worse. Can it?

[Ballistic Banana]

ShadownINja said:

Well, I guess we could join the Euro!

NOOOOO that will be the next to go....Buy Buy Buy

BB

[Snoggledog]

XJSJohn said:

Whatever it is, its pissing me off because i had a nice dividen paid in sterling but i want to convert it to local currancy, and currently i get hammered for about 30% less than it is traditionally worth on exchange rates...

Keep it in Sterling and wait 5 years

[sleep envy]

welshbikerduck said:

It can't get any worse. Can it?

I'm guessing & hoping it does

[XJSJohn]

Snoggledog said:

XJSJohn said:

Whatever it is, its pissing me off because i had a nice dividen paid in sterling but i want to convert it to local currancy, and currently i get hammered for about 30% less than it is traditionally worth on exchange rates...

Keep it in Sterling and wait 5 years

the problem is more that i just dont want to leave it in the UK and in a UK account .... hmmm sterling saver account in New Zeeland, wonder if thats possible?? .....

Honestly though the pound is tanking everywhere ... traditionally its SGD2.8/GBP1 and has been for the last decade, with lows of 2.6 and highs of 3.1 ...

Todays exchanges opened with an offer of SGD2.1/GBP1

[-DeaDLocK-]

XJSJohn said:

Todays exchanges opened with an offer of SGD2.1/GBP1

I feel you man. A large portion of my income is paid in Sterling, and I am trying to earn enough over here in order to just let the GBP sit over there, so I'm not raped on the exchange rates I have gotten used to over the last five years.

[thehawk]

Police State said:

ShadownINja said:

Because they are valuing a given country against another. If England is st compared to America, should the pound be strong compared to the dollar?

that's the civilised term for it; the truth is they are taking us to the cleaners.

The pound has been over-valued for a very long time.

[XJSJohn]

-DeaDLocK- said:

XJSJohn said:

Todays exchanges opened with an offer of SGD2.1/GBP1

I feel you man. A large portion of my income is paid in Sterling, and I am trying to earn enough over here in order to just let the GBP sit over there, so I'm not raped on the exchange rates I have gotten used to over the last five years.

Sounds familiar .... Is the MYR too strong as well??

We could always consolidate over a cheap coffee shop bottle of Tiger, safe in the knowledge that we have cash in the UK but cannot get it to where we need it without the reaming sans vaseline!!!!

[GlenMH]

-DeaDLocK- said:

XJSJohn said:

Todays exchanges opened with an offer of SGD2.1/GBP1

I feel you man. A large portion of my income is paid in Sterling, and I am trying to earn enough over here in order to just let the GBP sit over there, so I'm not raped on the exchange rates I have gotten used to over the last five years.

We feel your pain: came over here in August with roughly Y205/£ - now hovering round the Y135 mark... Makes a pint of beer in an expat bar over here £7.40

[XJSJohn]

To be fair, we have had it good for quite a while with the strong pound etc. I have a lot of American mates that are suddenly seeing thier monthly income going up by 30% or more purely because of exchange rates!!

guess its swings and roundabouts! BTW i gave up converting the cost of stuff back to GBP as it only started to scare me ...

[Somewhatfoolish]

sjn2004 said:

Despite all the problems these people have caused, why do they still allow them to play games with countries economies?

Don't ask me, I didn't vote for Labour!

[Motorrad]

ShadownINja said:

Well, I guess we could join the Euro!

Isn't the £ dropping actually a good thing in a time of crisis like this? Of course this isn't to say a run on the pound would be positive but it was overvalued for years.

German industry must be in a state of panic right now as their exports outside the eurozone look very expensive. The ECB being in control means that individual countries have less flexibility to tailor their monetary policy to their individual circumstances.

Mind you given the shower of ste we have in charge over here perhaps loss of control would be a good thing.

Edited by Motorrad on Friday 19th December 06:56

[GlenMH]

XJSJohn said:

BTW i gave up converting the cost of stuff back to GBP as it only started to scare me ...

Good shout - wife thinks natively in Yen now - but I am not there yet...
It will be interesting to see what intervention the BoJ makes now that they have acknowledged the fact that the Yen is too strong....

Glen

[turbobloke]

Gordon has been batting the pound down, now the BoE MPC are joining in. Game on etc.