Will the EX Rate ever go back up?

At 7.00 pm this evening the euro was 1.1666 the pound is sinking faster than the titanic, l am over the moon l sent  enough euros over (a couple of weeks ago) to last the next year.exchange rate l got then was 1.2650 now you would be lucky to get 1.14. l was going to wait to see if it would go up at the time from 1.2650 good job l did not.At the time l thought l was being robbed being used to the 1.50 plus days.Just when and at what level will it settle? Pat.

Pat

Well done good thinking. I feel its going to parity, the GBP is being exposed for what its is - fundamentally very weak. Our economy is mostly financial services and consumer based, with a big stimulus from the houseing boom, keeping all the retailers busy and the foreign tradesmen. Now the bubble is well and trully over its "no clothes time" for Brown and the UK.

I do feel for those that are existing on UK pensions and fixed income. I'm not sure what advice to give, apart from buying gold and silver coins. The future for the UK looks very bleak, atleast here they don't have horrible heating bills and can still get a coffee for a euro. GB has a lot to answer for, and so do the general population for not having a clue as to what he was doing.

Will the EX Rate ever go back up?

In a word NO!

I still don't really understand the markets, The Eurozone has officially said now it is in recession, Blighty hasn't yet, although it is firmly believed to be. How then is it that Sterling can still be dropping against (currently) inferior markets? Surely it can't all be down to the rather excessive 1.5% interest rate reduction?

Mark

Also posted on "Did You See..."

www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23586792-details/Slump+in+sterling+means+we+should+think+again+about+joining+the+euro/article.do

Mark its because the money people expect another drop in the intrest rate in the uk down to 2% maybe even 1.5 where as the euro is higher and the yen is even better so the money goes there buying that currency

Continuing the exchange rate fiasco;

Last month my UK State Pension was worth 770 Euros...

This month, just 28 days later...725Euros.

Keep up the sterling (sic) work Gordon...You will make paupers of us all yet...

And to think its been suggested that Gordon can sort out Europes financial problems HA!

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The rate is going from bad to worse if that is possible.    But good news pensioners are getting a £60 bonus for Christmas, probably have to pay it back next year.    How reducing vat is going to help is anybodys quess.  Pat

Reducing the rate of VAT just before Christmas might just encourage a few people to spend a little more; but didnt I read that  on Fuel, Spirits and Tobacco the rate will be increased to compensate for the loss of revenue. Guy Fawkes definitely had the right idea...

Yes and fuel to go up and road tax.    New system for air passengers on long haul will pay more but I suspect that will effect short term flights as well.  Pat 

Did I hear Gordon say "....we hope retailers will pass it on to consumers as soon as possible..." when announcing the VAT cut? So, in other words, they aren't legally obliged to???? Watch out for sneaking price increases this week, so next week retailers can say they've reduced prices by 2.5% in line with the VAT cut.......and then pocket the extra profit to compensate for lower volume sales this Xmas. Bloody hell, do they think we are all STUPID?

 'Bloody hell, do they think we are all STUPID?'

YES Roberto, their heads are so far up their proverbials they think we'll lap up any old............rubbish. 

GB: So Nick what do you think? Reduce VAT? Do you think they'll fall for that?

NS: Gullible bu**ers; of course they will; they let your lot in three times didn't they?

With regards to retailers passing it on, I think this (from This is Money) says it all:

Supermarkets are stinging their customers with bogus special offers, a leading consumer group has claimed.

Which? said Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Tesco had all flouted Government guidelines on sales and promotions.

Introduced in May, the guidelines say an offer is genuine only if it is a discount against a price charged throughout the previous 28 days.

However Which? found a number of promotions failing to comply, including one for Waitrose blueberries. They sold at £3.99 for just two weeks before being offered half price at £1.99.

Gallo wine sold by Sainsbury's at a discount was sold at the higher price for only a week.

And Marks & Spencer cherries were marked as half price at £2.49 even when the full amount had not been charged for a month.

Which? also expressed surprise that Tesco and Marks & Spencer bacon was on 'special offer' for the whole of its three-month investigation.

Nikki Ratcliff, research chief at the consumer watchdog, said: 'We all like a good deal, but special offers encourage us to spend more than we would otherwise and may make us buy food that we throw away.

'Supermarkets need to comply with the spirit of the new Government guidelines and stop misleading consumers into thinking they're getting great deals when they're not.'

Martin Fisher, a trading standards expert who has worked with a number of councils, said: 'The results strongly suggest that there is plenty more work to be done in getting supermarkets to comply with the rules.'

Which? says offers should last no longer than the period in which the higher price was charged. It also said the discounts should be calculated against the preceding price and not against prices from weeks or months before.

It said three-quarters of shoppers seek out special deals and more than half buy products solely because they are knocked down.

A high proportion – 30% - said 'buy one get one free' deals caused them to purchase food which ends up in the bin.

Which? said this contributes to a food waste mountain amounting to 6.7m tons a year.

Households with children waste an average of £610 a year on food they throw away.

Waitrose yesterday promised a review of how it runs special deals. A spokesman said: 'It is never our intention to mislead customers.' Marks & Spencer said: 'We always aim to offer our customers excellent value and follow guidelines on promotions wherever possible.

'For the bacon, unfortunately we made a mistake with the ticketing of this product and we apologise to our customers. We rectified it straight away.'

I'm sure there was something on Watchdog or something similar about a change to the rules concerning sales. Apparently there is no requirement in consumer law any more for something to be advertised elsewhere for 28 days prior to being reduced.

Mark

foxbat said

Will the EX Rate ever go back up?

In a word NO!

back up to 1.21

[QUOTE[back up to 1.21[/QUOTE]

Momentary upward glitch I'm afraid...

Back down to 1.18...(02/12/08)

I'm pretty sure that the bu**ers that keep messing around with the exchange rate know exactly when my UK pensions fall due for payment and adjust the rate downward accordingly!.

If I was a cynic (haha) I could almost swear its yet another way of making sure that Brits in the UK stay put, 'cos they cannot afford to buy overseas...and if they do manage to escape Gordon's clutches they've still got you by the short and curlies in respect of reduced pensions values...

In any case I think we were talking about the heady days when £1 got you around 1.5 Euros and things were so much easier on a two gets you three basis; when £100,000 got you 150000 Euros, not 118,000!

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I didn't look, honest

Mark

Correlation between UK and Europe will always be there hence an earlier posting about the yen, likelyhood is that whilst there is no real reason that the £ should be so weak against either the euro or the $ it is.

Uk needs to start spending on one hand however need to ensure they arent repossessed on the other, hence vat reduction, I beleive that the rate will settle in early Jan at around 1.20 as all will overspend at Xmas, what happens longer term is probably depedant upon another interest rate cut regardless of whether or not it is passed on.