For those like myself who will be traveling in Europe from now until December and after - the USD is appreciating towards the EURO. The 'forecast' shows the dollar getting as low as $1.45 in Feb. of '09. I noticed a decline from $1.599 to $1.528 in the past few weeks.
This is huge for me - I leave Monday and will be gone for a while so with the dollar continuing to appreciate, i'll get somewhat of a better 'bang for my buck' - I hope it continues to appreciate!!!
Just remember that there was a whole bunch of postings six months ago for people to buy Euro now. There are few winners in the currency exchange game,
Yeah, and gas prices are "only" $4.25 per gallon here at home. Let's throw a party to celebrate the good times...
OK, I'm glad to see this trend (both trends) but it's still crazy expensive. Of course that's not going to stop me from going...
And gas prices are only $9.50 a gallon in Germany!
And gas in Italy is DOWN to $8.80 a gallon this week!
So, will Russia fighting with Georgia affect the dollar or euro more? If we can stay out of it, the euro will be most affected because it's a transmission route for natural gas to Western Europe. If we can't stay out of it, all bets are off.
I think the dollar has strengthened as the situation in Iraq stabilizes and (not coincidently) the price of oil falls. Unfortunately the next crisis is always on the horizon.
I agree with others that betting on currency is risky. The only time I would "lock in" my currency ahead of time is if I risked canceling my trip otherwise.
Kent, at one point this morning Oanda showed it $1.5028. That's still $.07 higher than the $1.43/Euro I paid last October, so the dollar has fallen 5% in less than a year. When I was in Europe in 2000, the dollar was $.89 against the "Euro".
BTW, I don't get the "peer to peer" rate, but because I deal with a small bank without a foreign currency operation, they only pass on the 1% network charge and add $1.50 for "out-of-system" ATM usage. Amounts to about 1.3%, on average. But some big banks now charge over 3%.
Woot!!!! Woot!!!
Lets hope this trend continues and it extends to the non-Euro European countries also... Switzerland, maybe :)
From http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9z14eErLjwA&refer=home
"Europe's shared currency declined 1.9 percent to $1.5031 at 11:42 a.m. in New York and reached $1.5005, the lowest level since Feb. 27, from $1.5325 yesterday. It fell as much as 2.08 percent, the biggest one-day drop since Sept. 6, 2000. Against the yen, the European currency traded at 165.51, from 167.70. The dollar rose 0.5 percent to 110.07 yen after touching 110.08, the strongest since Jan. 10."
Yes - the exchange rate is still pathetic, and it's still high - but the fact of the matter is that it IS getting BETTER, especially since we peaked at $1.599...Sure the real exchange won't be $1.500, but if it was $1.57 the exchange rate would be a hell of a lot higher.
It's still promising that it is getting lower and lower - maybe we can expect things to be somewhat normal in the next four years ;)
p.s. xe.com is reporting $1.052777 today @ my iphone application reports $1.503 - we're making progress
January 20, 2009 can not come soon enough.
When the euro was introduced, I got 112 euros for $100. That was a grand time. Now I get 64 euros for my $100. Talk about taking a cut in pay. It hurts getting paid in dollars over here!
One of the truest maxims of all financial matters- trends are obvious only in hindsight. Will the euro continue to decline against the dollar? You simply can't forecast it. And don't forget, "strong" currencies have no effect on local inflation. The pound currently crushes the dollar, but on the whole, things are still cheaper in the US.
When I lived in Germany in the 80's, at one point you got about 4DM for a dollar.
I have been waiting for the trend to reverse a little. I took a gamble on buying my winter tickets in the spring and hoping the dollar wouldn't fall a lot more.
When I saw that Airbus was going to actively work a policy that somehow helped strengthen the dollar, I knew it was a good sign. Boeing jets are way too good of a deal for non US countries when the dollar is weak. It's going to be the same for every Euro manufacturer who competes against the Americans on the world stage. A weak dollar is not good for their bottom-line (unless they are buying US materials.)
When (and if) the money exchange rate will be one Euro = $ 1.45 (U.S.) I think that is the time to acquire Euros. And that will be the time to acquire the money of the Chek Republic, because their money is tied to the Euro.
Jo, what do you do in Germany? US government job?
My husband and I spent part of our honeymoon in Amsterdam in 1990. This is when they had the guilder there. Our very nice room was $50.00 USD. Today the same room at the Wieckmann is $250.00. Whee!
When I went to Ireland in 1994 for the first time it took almost $2.50, to buy one Irish 'punt' & our 3 day treck into London it was $2.59, to buy one pound Sterling.
It'll come around..
I used to be a hotel manager for the US Consulate, but I have also worked on Army Posts. Presently I am a cook part-time for the Marines, have a contract with the Dept. of Commerce doing data entry one morning a week, and I just started my own business doing walking tours in Frankfurt. Been working around the Army and the Consulate in some sort of fashion for almost 22 years.
Per Oanda.com the $ gained from $1.00 = 0.66E on Thursday to $1.00 = 0.68E today/Sunday (that's the interbank rate + 2%).
