For The Love Of Port

1.28597

Fortunately our guests paid for the recent PHT while the Euro was still relatively low. Not that it is high now, at 1.31317 at the moment, but the buying power was considerably better even a few weeks ago.

1.27832

1.31891

1.30693 and dropping. How much of this has to do with resolution to the Fiscal Cliff discussions? How much is due to internal EU financials?

1.32770

1.29460

1.28504

Roy Hersh wrote:1.28504

Don't take the the wrong way as I'm sure it's just a coincident. Every time you post here about it going down it then goes back up...just saying

Actually, I don't post anything about it going up or down, just plug in the numbers on a random/sporadic basis and then a graph can be charted from these data points, which shows movement over an extended period of time. That being said, I do realize you were joking.

1.38095 the spike that has followed the ridiculousness on Capitol Hill.

1.35931 ... what a difference a week makes. A minor correction from an exaggerated high point.

Well, there may be another budget battle on this side of the pond next January to stir things up. I'm not keeping up too much with the Euro side to say when the next crisis/bailout will be.

I was just traveling in Argentina where there is (IMHO) a more absurd but interesting phenomena. There is an official exchange rate which is constant (5.8 Argentine Pesos to the US$), but while you can easily get pesos for your $, you can't do the reverse. Credit card charges by Argentines outside of the country and then paid in pesos are subject to a ridiculous tax. The net result is the unofficial exchange rate, the Dolar Blue. Some places would give us 6 pesos, some 7, and the best I saw was 8.5, but he also took Euros so I offloaded those there. Apparently I should have tried harder to get 9: Argentina's Black-Market Peso Weakens Sharply; Stocks Up

I hope that our European friends who may have been considering investing US$ for an upcoming vacation, did so last week or two weeks ago!


1.34837

Continuing the plummet ... 1.35537

The bulk of my income originates in the UK so I keep a constant check on the value of the € against the £. Idle curiosity (of which I have an abundance) means I always look at the relative value of the $US too. I often move money and the site I have found most accurate in relation to interbank rates is www.xe.com

I have some pension paid directly here by the UK government and they always seem to be just about spot on with the xe rate. As I type, 19.43 GMT or thereabouts, the rate is $1.34093 up 0.00005 from a minute before. I saw it change, and static a miunte later, with a rise to $1.34101 a minute after that.

I use currencyonline.com.
They seem to have the lowest bid-ask spreads out their and commission costs are also the lowest i have found.

1.37486

1.36801

Not sure I'll get back here on Dec. 31st and wanted to enter one last data point for 2013:

1.38098 a few seconds ago. That is quite significant for those traveling to Portugal or other EU countries at this time of the year.