Currencies - What the hell is going on?

[jimslim]

(geosight @ Oct. 10 2008,14:22) any more room on that park bench !!!!

Plenty , tonight we're gonna party like its 1899 .

Still the park bench is more appealing than the Hi Boss ST rooms , and cheap wine and cider sure keeps you warm inside

[Lefty]

(rossco @ Oct. 10 2008,07:37) Look to your f...., speculators again. They drive rates up and down to make a percentage.

The USD should have dropped like a stone but is now getting stronger - really - with all the financial unrest/instability in Wall St. These guys should be exposed for what they do and punished.

I am really down on the speculators too. Oil is one place I would like to see the govt step in and not allow speculators.

The exchange rate sure seems to have a life of it's own, because it does not seem to be tied to the bank bailout at all. The US Dollar is 33.98 according to Bangkok Bank right now, which is still way better than it was a few months ago. I think a month ago, when I looked it was slightly above 34, so it may have dropped slightly. Against the PI peso, the US dollar is again growing steadily stronger and last check was over 47 after a low some months ago of 39 or so.
Gotta confess I do not check the exchange rates daily, since I am not there now.

[Anthony_Mustang]

(monkeyman @ Oct. 10 2008,02:04) Stock markets are in free fall , Oil is in free fall ,so currency traders are just hedging against resources going into free fall .

The Aussie dollar is all about prices of resources , Gold , Silver , Copper , Zinc etc .

The world economy is still in on a knife's edge between just a bad recession and full depression .

If Stock Markets dont start rebounding soon and/or Gold prices dont start jumping higher soon , its depression time .

Depression is really just a word that most of us dont identify with , lets hope we dont have to .

True but it doesn't explain why the Thai baht is still retaining such high value.

Seeing that such a large part of Thailands economy depends on Tourism. If a depression hits and here's hoping it can be avoided overseas travel is going to be one of the first things people cut out of their budgets. You would think the baht would tank.

[azza33]

The only reason i can think that thai baht hasn't collapsed is that the international investment community does not own many thai shares or bonds. They are dumping these assets and bringing the cash back home.

Hence no downward pressure on the baht for the moment.

Just a thought... nothing more....

[post-op lover]

Bitch bitch bitch.  Like Americans have had an easy time going overseas during the last 8 years.

2001: Europeans would say "Oh bless you poor people that got attacked.  Well, you do know why they attacked you, right?"
2002: "Oh you poor people.  Got attacked, and now what the hell are you thinking about Iraq and preemptive war?  Are you nuts?"
2003: "Okay, what's with this war in Iraq shit?  I mean, yeah, you got attacked, but so has everyone else."
2004: "Why isn't John Kerry ahead of that Neanderthal?  And your currency sucks now too."
2005: "You people are morons, you voted that imbecile back in?  Get the hell out of Iraq and out of our country while you're at it."
2006: "5 years on and you still haven't found bin Laden and you have been fucking up the world.  How much more can we take?  Well at least your currency isn't worth shit anymore."
2007: "Your currency isn't worth shit and we're buying up all your real estate loans.  And now you're paying the same astronomical prices for gas that we do, to drive around your stupid SUVs.  Stupid fuckers, we will own you!"
2008: "You fuckers had better elect Barack Obama.  Too stupid to fucking manage your currency, too stupid to manage your home loans and, wait, what the fuck is happening to the loans we bought?  Oh fuck."

Let's just say nobody was looking out for the US when it went and elected GWB two times in a row.  We may be toast, but we're taking you all along for the ride.  

POL

[dummy_plug]

I too am quite shocked at the resilience of the THB, but at least against the USD, it appears to have lost some of its steam and is on its way to weakening further. Last reports I saw from Morgan and other IBs, or what is left of them, predicted it to weaker to a solid 35 or 36 to $1USD. Really surprised all the unrest, turmoil, and drop in tourism (i.e. demand for their currency) hasn't hit them harder.

Yikes @ those holding EUR, pounds, or AUD. Better book your trips now boys, its going to get worse before it gets better.

[paultain]

If anyone is interested, download a documentary called €˜The Money Masters €“ How International Bankers Gained Control of America€™.

It was made in 1996-7, and is 3 and a half hours long. And begins in the mid 1700€™s, until 1996. It is relative of what is going on today. You will see the game they are playing.

I think the governments should round up all these CEO€™s who got us into this mess, stick them into Gantanamo, and charge them with €˜Financial Terrorism€™. Stick them in a cage and throw them a laptop, and say; €œYou got us into this mess, now you get us out of it, or you won€™t be getting out of here€.

Freeze all their assets; in fact re-distribute their assets back into the system. After all if any of us normal folk couldn€™t do our jobs properly we would get fired, and the thought of getting a golden handshake after screwing things up would be very ridiculous.

At this time of crisis, all stock markets should be closed until this bailout is properly introduced. After all 2 weeks ago Russia started to be infected by this crisis and started to loose. But what did Putin do? He kicked out all the traders of the Russian stock market out and put a padlock on the door for 2 days. And guess what, they didn€™t loose a cent for those 2 days.

They say to us ordinary folk not to panic and keep your money where it is, while the stock traders this week have been shitting themselves and selling like crazy, making the situation worse. I say close them down until this is sorted. If they can€™t trade, they can€™t loose anything.

And that€™s my 2 cents worth (or is it 1 cent now)

[Torurot]

>>"We may be toast, but we're taking you all along for the ride."

"Thanks" for nothing!

[post-op lover]

(dummy_plug @ Oct. 11 2008,11:29) Yikes @ those holding EUR, pounds, or AUD. Better book your trips now boys, its going to get worse before it gets better.

I may go to Asia or Australia within the next 8 months. Things are looking up!

How's Sydney in December?

No trips to Thailand in the foreseeable future, though.

Plummet, baby, plummet! When the "Obama dollar" enters circulation on Jan 21, 2009, you bet there's going to be a run for dollars by the Europeans and everyone else who loves him. Even a 20% increase in the exchange rate won't abate their love.



POL

[RSR]

In answer to Seanbag7's question about FX sites, I use

http://www.hifx.co.uk/marketwatch.aspx

which has two great features:

1. you can select which currencies you want to have displayed and
2. it updates in real time so you can see the value of your £ and AUD drop throughout the day and get really depressed!

Coincidentally, it also transfers money at very much better rates than banks so if you are buying an apartment or car or something that costs more than £5000, look at using them.

[SamplerDoc]

(rossco @ Oct. 10 2008,19:37) What confounds me is that these rates do NOT reflect the 'real' world.

Look to your f...., speculators again. They drive rates up and down to make a percentage.

Actually this is the real world and what happens

[geosight]

(azza33 @ Oct. 11 2008,09:16) The only reason i can think that thai baht hasn't collapsed is that the international investment community does not own many thai shares or bonds. They are dumping these assets and bringing the cash back home.

Hence no downward pressure on the baht for the moment.

Just a thought... nothing more....  

makes sense to me

[jaymee]

I don't know whether its related to currencies.

But for US treasuries, the 10-yr/30-yr Bond Completing a 4 year giangatic topping pattern.

Meaning Long term yield had completed a 4 years massive double bottom and can only head up.

These bonds are simple sitting there waiting to be shorted.

[paultain]

Bangkok Bank currency exchange rates link

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok....tes.htm

Euro = 45.93
USD = 32.95
GBP = 58.30

Today

[geosight]

1.00 AUD = 24.4917 THB

keep going up baby !!!!!!