Will the EX Rate ever go back up?

I think the ECB make their decision on any cut, on the 15th. My prediction is that the rate will never get higher then 1.20 in 2009!

Maybe not back to the dizzy heights of yesteryear, but 1.20 has to be a lot better than the 1.02 of recent times. Anything has got to be better than parity.

Mark

Yes the ECB make their decision on further Interest rate cuts on the 15th, but there will be much speculation on not 'will they cut' but more on 'how much' as they must do otherwise the PIGS will be most disgruntled, as would Ireland.

Also the current problem over Gas flows to EU countries caused speculation that the cost of Gas in the EU would rise dramatically, thus causing a spiral downturn for EU economies that are already on the brink of recession, if not actually in recession.

Yes! It will be interesting to see what happens on Monday.

Interestingly, when this thread started, the complaints were that the exchange rate had dropped to 1.26.  Oh, for those heady days!!!!!

I disagree with Simone, though.  I said a lot earlier that rates will probably rise back to 1.25 by Spring and maybe 1.30 and I still stick by that.  Be interesting to find out how it goes.

The reduction in interest rates and the exchange rate in UK is now starting to bite into my life.  I was hoping to retire to Spain this year and have an Army pension plus another company pension.  After all bills and mortgages have been paid, I have 100K in savings which the interest was going to supplement my pensions.  The pensions of 15K a year and an old interest of 5K a year and, when I started planning, was going to give me and annual income of 20K or €28,000 pa without touching my "nest egg".  I'd even looked at the worst case scenario of the pound dropping to 1.25 but would still have an income of €25,000 without touching the savings.

At the beginning of the week, that would reduce to €16,500 as the interest on my 100K would be a derisory €920 a year after tax.  That, as you can see, is a great difference on the plans I was making just a year ago.  Looks like the "nest egg" is going to get cracked a few times over the coming years.

Things will bounce back buddy, it will just take a little time!

Hopefully not too much time.

They way I look at it is this, if we can survive the bad times in Spain, which we are, then roll on the good times!

I agree with you about the ex-rate and yes! It is interesting that when I started this thread, I was complaining about the ex-rate being 1.26, what I would give for that now!!!

Give it time, it will bounce back.

0.92% interest after tax, Bob? Even NS&I offer more than that.

Couldn't resist looking (hope I haven't jinxed it ) Above 1.10 (according to my desktop gadget) for the first time in many a week.

Mark

technoape

you always appear with an optimistic message which is very reassuring.....  you always appear to make sense too which instills confidence.

thanks  

 Hi MARK,

I am transfering some pounds over here next week so could you do me  a favour and not look at the rate for at  least a week please.

We all know what happens when you do.

1.103 at the mo.....

1.134 now

It's been troubling me for a while now as I didn't know the answer (and I wasn't going to ask either ). Thanks to the BBC, I now know that piiggs stands for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain. Thanks Auntie Beeb .

Mark

1.14 now

back down to 1.13 now :(

But it's getting there at least it is no longer in free fall...

I'm waiting for it to get to 1.20 before I send any money from the uk to my spanish accounts, hopefully I can wait that long!

The ex-rate seems to be sitting around 1.13€ at the mo, keeps going up and down like a yo-yo but always seems to settle back at the same rate.

I think this might be an indication that traders don't know what currency is going to be the best bet and are trying to make quick gains.

Oh hum! Crystal ball at the ready the next time I need to transfer money from UK to Spain.

Here, use mine

Mark

But good news this morning. My euromortgage rate just dropped to half what it was.  Lucky I couldn't put the payment through yesterday because of some Intelvia problem.  yippee!

Just got message from Currencies Direct this morning that the exchange rate for our monthly transfer was only around 1.08 euros - that is the worst exchange we have had

Linda

Yes it has been dropping like a stone today on fears that the banks are going to need yet more of our money to bail them out.Pat

Still dropping. Almost 3 cents in the last couple of days!!

Mark

A financier told me recently that they expect the euro to be around 1.30-1.35 to the pound by October.