does anyone have a clue on how the dollar is gonna go in the next week or so?
It's down to .52(!) against the pound and it's making me grumpy about transferring my savings back to the UK. From what I can tell the dollar seems to close weakest at the end of the week.
Reports I've read say it'll keep sliding in value for the considerable future.

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

Who knows at this point, but all the analysts say the dollar will continue to fall and the pound will rise unless some of the big players step in to prop up the dollar. I moved my mutual funds into Euro denominated-funds about four months ago, and started buying stock in some Canadian companies about the same time. I am currently a very happy man.

This page has a synopsis of current analysis below the graph, and links to articles from analysts. Click "Click here to display chart data below" after displaying the graph:

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/BP/W

buy yen or euros. We are seeing the beginning of the third world economy that bush inc has imposed on us. Welcome to argentina.

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71 220D 169K wrecked
83 240D 118K sweet 4 speed
91 350SDL (one of the 60% good engines) 156K
84 300d (loaner to my sister) 189K
79 300SD (partswagen)
86 420SEL partswagen
70 220d (partswagen)
68 280s GASSER!!! under construction now
85 300sd 310K miles winter beater car retired
93 300d 2.5 turbo 168K wife's car
83 280SL euro 5 speed 155K
69 250S newest project 54K

This is what happens when you build "economic recovery" out of debt. Somehow, some way, a nation needs to create more wealth than it consumes - it cannot borrow forever. The other two major economies of the world, the European Union and the Chinese are sustaining economies that are actually creating wealth, and the people with the money are going to move it into those economies instead of ours.

As an economy, we have become risky and we now have lots of enemies and many who wish they were not forced to be our friends. I certainly don't see the French, the number 1 Euro-based economy, rushing out to prop up the dollar any time soon. The Russians , Bush's supposed pals, have already announced that they are selling the dollars they are holding, which will dump more and more of them on the market all next week. The Japanese are essentially saying and doing nothing. In essence we are seeing a world-wide drop in the stock price of USA, Inc for the same reason a corporation whose asset side of the balance sheet is shrinking while its liabilities increase would see its stock drop - we are just not worth as much as we used to be.

Many economists, and crash9 eluded to it on the other thread on the dropping dollar, think that Bush has made a fundamental mistake - thinking this will stimulate American manufacturing and raise employment- the problem is there is no longer any manufacturing to stimulate. Instead this will do the one thing that our debt-ridden nation cannot afford, which is cause interest rates to rise. In addition, the very first thing his party does after re-election is raise the debt ceiling by 800 billion dollars! A clear message to the rest of the world we have another round of drunken sailor spending coming from our Republican Congess. It's all going to spark another recession. Another four years of leadership that does absolutely nothing about our loss of a manufaturing base and continued addiction to foreign oil is going to put this country in the poorhouse for the rest of the century. The other economies are already wise to the fact that the only way out of it for a country that cannot create wealth is to steal it with our military -whether we are actually going to do it or not is immaterial, it is the perception that matters - and they are going to see that in their position of military weakness they have only one option to deal with us - bankrupt us.

chazola. i know what you mean. i was in london 2 weeks ago and found it very expensive. although when i lived in the uk in the late 70's the pound was over $1.90 / close to $2.00
up to you but i wouldn't sell those dollars at these rates if you don't have to.
the euro and yen are also strong now so that isn't a real solution.

european exports and the tourist industry are all going to suffer bigtime from this, so their central banks may step in to stem the tide.

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

Talk to the ECB, they are just now getting the clue that it's hurting European exports.

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Jonathan
1998 S600
2001 E430
1994 E320
1991 560SEL
1994 Turbo R

"Boy, the way Glen Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade. Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days! Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days! And you knew where you were then! Girls were girls and men were men. Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again. People seemed to be content. Fifty dollars paid the rent. Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days! Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win. Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin. Hair was short and skirts were long. Kate Smith really sold a song. I don't know just what went wrong! Those Were the Days!"

I don't know- the general consensus is the dollar is going down and staying down. Z hits it on the head.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3329902

well not if the banks step in. however i will put this forward - the interest rates in the uk are much higher than they are here in th U.S. so chazola could make up his pereceived 'loss' of selling usdlrs for gbp by a better interest rate return on gbp.
anyhow it all depends on the situation. if you don't need the particular currency right away then you could hedge the exchange rates movement by holding some usdlrs, if you are so inclined, for use on say a future trip to the u.s.

after all the biggest spread in rates i have seen in my life for the gbp is only about us$ .60

currency trading for profit is for the big players, not the little guy.

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

General dollar weakness has been going on for about two years now, but the Pound has just a week ago had a major upside breakout at 185ish. We’re starting to get into the third wave of this when the public gets sucked in, but that is when the market can move very fast as it becomes a near panic. Gotta have somebody to sell too.
You don’t have to do everything at once, but about the best you could hope for in the spring is 175, maybe 170 and waiting to get that lucky would be the greatest risk. You’ve missed a great deal of this already, but thinking it won’t just continue is a huge mistake – There’s not a one in five chance that it will, but it’s starting to feel like this just might be that one time. You know it’s got to happen sooner or later and it may be that this really is tomorrow. Buy some here and if the market doesn’t set back right after the new year buy some more. The market is off about ½ cent tonight as the weekend retail numbers looked pretty good – we’re overbought and could expect a pullback to 18650 during Tues. trade – I’d jump on that.

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89 300E
79 240D
72 Westy
63 Bug sunroof
85 Jeep CJ7
86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius

I haven't been screwed yet. But I don't buy imports except oil.

How do the gains in productivity affect the economy?

There is some moral outrage over companies moving operations overseas. Shouldn't there be outrage over folks moving capital off-shore rather than investing in local markets? Capital investment in companies means hiring workers, right?

Gains in productivity increase the amount of capital available for investment or increase profits, depending on what the business that benefits from it wishes to do with the cost savings. Anything that increases available capital is a major plus for an economy.

As far as capital flight, there is an old saying that capital knows no borders. You must maintain an economy that results in a net inflow of capital by attracting off-setting foreign capital, or the money invested elsewhere must return the profits back to our economy, and in both those cases that ain't us.

I'll have to read the thread again, but is this news good or bad? I forgot.

http://www.forbes.com/business/healthcare/feeds/ap/2005/02/07/ap1809915.html

Not sure if this is good or bad news either . . . .

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler has pushed back the U.S. launch of its new Mercedes B-class compact sports wagon, the world's fifth-biggest carmaker said on Monday, blaming the dollar's weakness against the euro.

The decision underscored European manufacturers' sensitivity to a weak dollar despite its recent gains on the euro, which has eased to near $1.2850 from a record high of $1.3667 on Dec. 30.

"It is correct that on account of the current dollar/euro rate we have delayed for the time being the launch of the B-class in the United States," a company spokesman said, confirming a report in the Automotive News industry paper.

But he stressed the delay was only temporary. "As soon as the exchange rate basis is substantially better for us, we will launch the B-class in the U.S. as planned," he said, declining to specify the level at which it would be acceptable to proceed.

He insisted that only exchange rates -- not quality issues that have dented the Mercedes image and held up other launches of late -- triggered the move. The B-class launch in Europe, Canada and Mexico is not at risk.

The B-class, made in Germany and due to be presented at next month's Geneva car show, is a roomier version of the A-class compact. It aims to compete against rivals' small premium cars such as the Audi A3 and the BMW 1-Series.

Former Mercedes Car Group division head Juergen Hubbert told reporters at the Paris car show in September that Daimler expected to sell some 100,000 B-class cars each year around the world once production was fully ramped up.

Wages rise above inflation.

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