POUND IN FREEFALL?
 

Hard to believe. Pound fell through $1.20 during yesterday's trading and has recovered somewhat to $1.24. This may be the time for Americans to prebook travel to London; personally although I am not an expert, I cannot see it falling much further.

I can see it falling much further. Then higher. Then lower. Then higher.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/06/briti...ecade-low.html

But to your point we are transferring money to a pound account today for a trip in late November.

"This may be the time for Americans to prebook travel to London;..."

Or Europe (Euro 1.11) or India (INR 66). Are other currencies losing ground or the dollar stronger, and does it matter? Yes, book travel but prepay as much as possible, considering the approaching election.

Generally with uncertainty over UK plans for the next 2 or 3 years and gov interest rates at 0.25% who in their right mind will want sterling. It is going to be a roller coaster while all this gets sorted out. I moved most of my money to global accounts before and after the vote. Trouble is all I earn is more pesky £.

For visitors; come and bring anything but £. We have loads of them. :-)

Half our pension is paid in pounds :(. I see belt tightening in my future.

Hopefully not because you can't afford to it? :(

It should be eat. Never mind. And happy birthday.

yeh, Brexit was such a good idea.

We're off to France for a few days next week. We should have bought some more euros while we were in Italy. Fortunately we've booked transport and accommodation through Brittany Ferries and have paid in £ so it's just spending money we have to worry about.

Tant pis.

Planning on going to Dublin next week. I suppose currecny there is linked to Pound (didn't check and never been yet).
So... more beer !

>>I suppose currecny there is linked to Pound (didn't check and never been yet). <<

No. Euros there.

I heard on the radio news that there is speculation that our old friend automated algorithms were reacting to news reports about the government's approach to Brexit. The thought that someone can automate analysis of party conference speeches....... robots on the platform, robots in the press room, robots in the banks?

I enjoy converting my Swiss franc salary to pounds. I'm rich! ;-)

When we moved here, there were almost 2 francs to the pound...now, not so much.

Threads like this make me miss logos999 who was constantly and gleefully predicting the imminent collapse of the dollar...

Over the years I've lived in the UK the pound has been as high as $2.80, and as low as $1.05. Right now my $ pensions are doing nicely here, thank you!

"who in their right mind will want sterling"

I suspect our own "Doc Martin in the Cotswolds" will soon be done shearing the sheep and respond to your very impertinent question (LOL).

Apparently at Heathrow's currency exchange 1GBP will buy you €1.

cold - yes it could well mean cutting down of food, and heat and travel. The pension is not a lot and when half of it hasn't gone up with inflation (the Dutch half) and the other half is going down due to currency problems it isn't looking good for us.


I hope some will be able to take advantage of the cheap pound, but bear in mind that they import a lot of stuff and all of that will go up in price as a result, so it may not be such a bargain.

We are currently buying a property in Spain... The £££ free fall has cost me thousands this week....��...

Brexit - 'be careful for what you wish'

Brexit - 'be careful for what you wish'>>

Pal - please don't include me in that - I didn't wish for it and neither did the vast majority of my friends and acquaintances.

>>neither did the vast majority of my friends and acquaintances.<<

Some of those may be closet Brexit-ers and just aren't admitting it since Cornwall went 57%-43% to leave.

I think it may be a bit like Trump in the States. Everyone says 'Oh no - no one I know can tolerate The Donald' . . . yet the polls say otherwise.

Some of those may be closet Brexit-ers and just aren't admitting it since Cornwall went 57%-43% to leave.>>

definitely not, JJ, trust me. These are people who are in despair at the effect on the country, whether it be economic, cultural, political or social.

It probably reflects the sort of people I mix with!

"Some of those may be closet Brexit-ers"

There really aren't many. Lots of people don't shout how they voted from the rafters, but very few people disguise how they voted three months ago. The Remainian myth about people being too shy to tell the truth all come from Remainians in denial: there's not a shred of opinion poll or canvassing evidence for it.

What IS depressingly clear, though, is how many people now live in almost hermetically sealed bubbles where they simply don't meet (or at any rate talk to) people in the "other" camp on Brexit. And, on both sides, carry a belief in their side's moral superiority.

In my street (likeliest out-turn: 67% Remain), it's understandable why the Remainians are convinced everyone voted remain: windows were awash with In posters. But an extraordinary proportion of the street's Brexiteers still flatly deny the constituency overall voted to stay in: they socialise almost entirely with other Brexiteers.

Lots of explanations for this. One contributing factor is cleaners. Usually, England's geography is socially mixed: even in the poshest areas, there's lots of low-income housing within easy walking distance, so the most isolated toff used to get an idea of the rest of the world by chatting to the cleaners or the chap who did the garden.

With the desperate labour shortage in the richest areas (unemployment in my constituency in 0.7%, and no-one's managed to find any of them), the comfortably-off can't find those nice ladies round the corner any more. So they use agencies, who drive teams of intensively-managed Croats and Romanians round to clean in an hour what Tracey used to take a morning for. The migrants can't vote in national elections - and they've neither the time nor the fluency to talk politics.

And, with the local shop closed, you don't get any insight from checkout staff at the Waitrose five miles away either.

There is enormous wisdom in what flanner writes after his second paragraph, and it is absolutely accurate in the United States as well.

At least one of the members of my pro-remain ""hermetically sealed bubble is otherwise a dyed in the wool Thatcherite and I know that there are several more who by no means share my liberal tendencies.

"It's the economy, stupid" just about sums it up.

>>and it is absolutely accurate in the United States as well.<<

Ditto that.

Needless to say -- I keep my mouth shut :)

. . . And stay out of the Lounge political threads -

Going to England in June 2017. I booked most of my accommodation nights through hotels.com which gives me the option to "pay now in USD" or "pay later in local currency". Any advice on what I should do? Is it safer to pay now using the current exchange rate? Or wait until June? I'd rather wait to pay, but I fear that the dollar might not get me as much as it does now.

>>Is it safer to pay now using the current exchange rate? Or wait until June? <<

There is absolutely no way to tell

If you want to pay later, pay later. It's a crap shoot, neither is innately "safer" and for most of us, just not worth worrying. Find something more interesting to think about.

suppose currecny there is linked to Pound (didn't check and never been yet).

Shoot me. Just shoot me.

rachill - if you pay now, you effectively give the hotel your money for about 9 months; also if your plans change you've probably lost it.

you could hedge your bets by buying some sterling now; you'll need it anyway, and if you didn't travel for some reason, you can sell it back.

ask George Soros about the Pound's future this year -he always has the inside dope.

If Scotland ever opts out of UK watch the Pound soar back up.

Pity the poor folks who a year ago brought home extra pounds to start their next trip

exchange rates IME of long observations are hard to predict- I agree with janis on this.

but even at current rates London will still be rather expensive - not as much as before but no bargain. We'll see how inflation goes too.

If some of the predictions are right, one of the major impacts of Brexit will start being felt in the run up to, or immediately after Christmas (the latter if supermarkets try to buffer the market) - when the 20% drop in the value of sterling starts to really hit food prices.

It is amazing that nobody saw this coming ;-) maybe because "The British people are tired of Experts"