Does anyone have any links discussing the large fluctuation with the dollar vs euro rates lately? I wanted to discuss it in my class and I cant find any good articles to use... I am not sure what is going on but I like it!!

I worked as a trader in London's financial markets for nearly 20 years and we relied in 2 major news services : Reuters and Bloomberg ... Bloomberg has an analysis on:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aG0KZrYJ3eAk&refer=home

This one focuses more on the Euro than the dollar , but does cover the cross exchange .

I would definitely say that the only reason that the dollar is strong right now is that investors have no other option ( the devil you know ! ) . Currency and equity markets are in turmoil and the root is the US economy ( which traditionally leads all financial markets ) . The present administration in USA has , seemingly , mismanaged the economy and Wall Street on a monumental scale and it's going to take the new administration years to unravel it .
When I saw Lehman Bros go under it was complete shock ... They were so incredibly respected in all the financial centres .
It's difficult to call where the dollar goes but whilst this remains a global economic disaster ( and that's what it is ! ) investors will pile into the dollar as the best of the worst .
When I was in London we traders often questioned why the dollar was given such status , as the Euro and the Pound were more often stronger , but you can't get away with the fact that the USA economy is the most important in the world .

Cascadadusel - If you really want something more in depth I can e-mail some people in London for some websites .

Steve .

...Cascadadusel...what a huge subject!!! I believe that more recently the relationship between the US$ and the price of oil has come into play. Things such as interest rates in countries, inflation etc also have effects.
Have a look at... http://www.morganstanley.com/views/gef/archive/2008/20080825-Mon.html ...and you may like to Google 'link between oil and US dollar. Try thinking up word combinations to put into Google.
Good luck!

Cascadadusel...i just Googled 'factors affecting Euro vs US dollar' which produced a lot of useful sites

steve,

I know that your post wasn't meant to be political, and no one is suppose to delve into politics on this board, but nonetheless, I feel I must correct you. When you refer above to the U.S. administration, I think you really mean our government. The administration in the U.S. is the responsibility of the president, and he doesn't provide oversight for the banks in the U.S., much less run our economy. The U.S. Congress passes laws relating to banking and commerce, and has members on our banking committee. You won't hear that fact much in the news though.

While I'll admit that the current administration has done little, if anything, in advising the country of the current catastrophe, the Congress was ultimatetly responsible for the loose regulations that got us into this mess.

Don't forget everyone, we have a NO POLITICS policy here! Thanks for playing.

Saludos, MadridMan

Yeah no worries MM we transferred this to private e-mail steve

Cascadadusel

If the government's bank bailout goes according to plan, you may want to consider looking for articles on how it will affect the dollar. I would suggest. http://www.economist.com/

gsobotta