Canadian Dollar Kicking Butt!

[pgaming]

The Canadian dollar has been kicking the U.S Greenback for quite sometime now. I will be in the States this coming weekend for a short stay. From what I been hearing most American retailers are not playing fair? They still insist our dollar is not even close to par. Well I hate to say it but for some strange reason its’ worth more! Although I prefer to stay away from the politicking the W has sure sent many Americans to the gallows.

Anyway I felt the need to get this of my chest.

The loonie, already soaring on high commodity prices, hit new records Friday, surging more than 1.9 cents to end the day at 107.04 cents US, its highest close on record. Earlier, the loonie traded as high as 107.3 cents US before cooling slightly as a new report showed U.S.

source:http://canadianpress.google.com/arti...zvF2ivVPJMdsww


greek39

[bb1web]

Hi Peter,

don't take ****.... go to the bank my friend!

they won't **** you.. they'll pay what exchange is worth.


ps....

don't rub it in ..... lol.

[GPWA Aaron]

Someone remind me why I stopped freelancing for that Canadian trade magazine ...

[pgaming]

Advice taken bb I am sure they will, I don’t think this Bonanza will last long. Our Government will do something to deflate our dollar. From a Canadian perspective this is not a good thing.

greek39

[Renee]

Hey Greek

Thats great to hear!
Our dollar is soaring too.. Hasn't been this high since 1984.
Last week closed at 94c.
I'm skeptical like you are though - if labor gets in when we have our election in 3 weeks the dollar will soar straight back down to what it was before our current government got in.

Thanks Mr W. You're a top bloke reh.

[ck8795]

I was just going to say that greek....its really not in our best interest but you would hope the dollar would eventually reflect in some of our costs in retail.

[TheGooner]

I would point out that it's not the Canadian or Australia dollar soaring as such ...
But the US dollar plummetting like a stone.

It's always funny to hear the headline that GOLD or OIL has reached a new peak price (against the US$) on TV reports - with an idiot talking head.

And then you do the conversion back to local currency (NZ$ for me) and find that actually ... no.

Try http://free.charts.xe.com/misc/xe.asp

And then do the one year charts.

EUR -> USD from 1.28 to 1.44
AUD -> USD from 0.77 to 0.92
NZD -> USD from 0.66 to 0.77
GBP -> USD from 1.90 to 2.08

See the trends? Each currency has appeciated about 14%

When other currencies are compared against each other they only move around 2-3% max.

[Tony]

Why did they do this to me! I was saving US dollars so when I go to PA to visit my brother I don have to pay more on exchange.
By the way Peter some times when I go to my brothers I use my debit card, I only take enough money so I don’t get stock with to much US dol, and I don’t have to deal with creeps or banks.
US is not like Canada not all US banks exchange foreign currency, I found that out the hard way.

[ck8795]

I must say that i am hating the exchange at the moment. Recieved payment for a job, in total I have lost almost 15% due to Paypal fees and exchange ($50 in exchange). This week I am down already $150 for this, and more to come.

[Renee]

I would point out that it's not the Canadian or Australia dollar soaring as such ...
But the US dollar plummetting like a stone.

It's always funny to hear the headline that GOLD or OIL has reached a new peak price (against the US$) on TV reports - with an idiot talking head.

And then you do the conversion back to local currency (NZ$ for me) and find that actually ... no.

Try http://free.charts.xe.com/misc/xe.asp

And then do the one year charts.

EUR -> USD from 1.28 to 1.44
AUD -> USD from 0.77 to 0.92
NZD -> USD from 0.66 to 0.77
GBP -> USD from 1.90 to 2.08

See the trends? Each currency has appeciated about 14%

When other currencies are compared against each other they only move around 2-3% max.

We know you're right... but let us smile for at least 5 minutes

[matted]

I'll leave my left wing political views out of this discussion




January 20, 2009

[pgaming]

Wish I had a truckload of Canadian cash I would be buying U.S currency. This trend will likely be short lived but I am enjoying every minute. Canada and other countries have always deflated their currency to make investing more attractive. Whether or not the U.S currency is plummeting is relative.

Tony, about ten years ago I was sitting down in a restaurant in the U.S. After finishing my meal I realized the only currency I had was Canadian. The waiter gave me the bill and would not accept Canadian currency. In fact the waiter thought it was Monopoly money. Not having a credit I ended up paying by cheque of all things. Up hear in Canada things are a bit different the U.S dollar is accepted everywhere. Exchange rates are posted all over the place.

Renee, minus the climate you would be surprised how close ideology wise Australia and Canada really are. The political structure and cultural diversity is almost identical. I have heard Canadians regard Aussies as first cousins despite being so close to the U.S.

The sooner the W is out the better. I miss the U.S and the way it use to be.

Anyway here’s the latest

The loonie broke through the US$1.10 barrier in overseas trading Wednesday, initially hitting the 110.02 cents US mark.
It dropped back down to 109.6 cents US, before taking off again and landing well above US$1.10.
Source: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/274370

Enjoy it while it lasts!

greek39

[TheGooner]

Wish I had a truckload of Canadian cash I would be buying U.S currency. This trend will likely be short lived but I am enjoying every minute. Canada and other countries have always deflated their currency to make investing more attractive. Whether or not the U.S currency is plummeting is relative.

The financial talk is that this is not short-lived nor a devaluation of everyone elses currency. Buying US cash would be throwing money away.

Rather this trend is a lnog term reflection of the low US interest rates - as the fed has had to cut rates to try and stem the blood in the junk bonds and US property market.

The US fiscal policy is so overblown that the US federal government is technically bankrupt - and surives only by issing more paper bonds.

America is now totally reliant on countries like China and Japan continuing to buy up the treasury bond issues in order to fund day to day running of business.

http://www.kitco.com is a fascinating site for non-broadsheet financial information .... although Iwill point out that they are "gold-bugs" - so you have to temper a lot of their raving about metals as having a private wheelbarrow to push.

But their currency commetaries have been most useful for me to do planning by - over the last 2-3 years. Recommended reading if you're dealing with forex transactions.

(as all my earnings are foreign exchange - not many NZD's are gambled)

[pgaming]

Likely true Gooner but for a long-term investment would it not be wise to buy U.S currency. For example take 10,000 Canadian convert to U.S and wait for our dollar to drop. Now I have seen our dollar as low as .64 compared to the U.S.

Does this make sense? Because this is the part I get really confused over.

greek39

[TheGooner]

History is a funny thing mate. And long term economies do change.

When the US dollar moved off the gold standard it lost the "right" to be considered as "good as gold". It's now a currency like every other currency - albeit a currency of immense historical importance.

Remember that the British pound was once the gold standard.

Right now the US is spending much more on foreign good and imports (and wars?) than other countries are spending on US goods. That means that US dollars are being sold - and exchanged for foreign currencies - with the resulting fall in the vlaue of the USD.

The only thing holding up the USD is asian willingness to buy USD denominated bonds (due to historical trends) but losing 14% in a year is causing them to reconsider this strategy.

Will US monetary policy change? Will a fiscally prudent president be elected?
Will US citizens accept that spending on credit cannot continue any more?

I just do not see the political will to change.

I won't invest in the USD any time soon - and many US advisors are telling their clients to invest internationally (in anything but the USD).

BUT - always get professional advice before making any financial decisions - and not because of some looney (me) on the forum.

[casinoranking]

I've lost a crazy amount of money because of the US dollar going down. But instead of simply looking at the bad sometimes someone can look at the good.

Real estate in the USA is far cheaper than in Canada (except maybe for parts of California and the Florida keys) someone who is sick of the -40 weather can now buy a beautiful condo or house in hot spots like Orlando for far cheaper than they could in key Canadian cities. I just bought a house an hour from Vancouver for 700k, it's 1 acre but the house is literally crap. That same amount of money in Florida can buy a person what I would consider a mansion.

I agree this totally sucks I say look at it as an opportunity. Personally I'm considering buying a condo in Florida or Hawaii in the near future. The only thing that sucks with the idea of owning in the USA is the whole right wing/bush problem, but hopefully that will be corrected sometime in the near future.