How Many Other People Getting hit by the Strong Dollar?

william the wie

Gold Member
Nov 18, 2009
16,667
2,402
280
Unilever in particular has been a disaster for me despite great yield and good option premiums. Short answer is I lost 20% in three months almost solely due to the strengthening dollar. The Italian banking problems did not help but then again it didn't do major damage. Any other war stories about the strong dollar causing problems. My portfolio is up slightly when it should be up big.
 
Unilever in particular has been a disaster for me despite great yield and good option premiums. Short answer is I lost 20% in three months almost solely due to the strengthening dollar. The Italian banking problems did not help but then again it didn't do major damage. Any other war stories about the strong dollar causing problems. My portfolio is up slightly when it should be up big.
I'm so poor if flannel was 10 cents a yard, I couldn't buy enough to make a pair of track shorts for a pissant.
 
Get out of debt. No matter what you think your interest rate is it's higher than that. Also start with your easiest to pay off debts and use your savings to pay down the next easiest to pay off debt, It won't make you rich but it does help you sleep easier.
 
Unilever in particular has been a disaster for me despite great yield and good option premiums. Short answer is I lost 20% in three months almost solely due to the strengthening dollar. The Italian banking problems did not help but then again it didn't do major damage. Any other war stories about the strong dollar causing problems. My portfolio is up slightly when it should be up big.
Here is who a strong dollar helps, and who it hurts:

The winners​

U.S. importers

For companies that buy goods from overseas, purchases are less expensive.

"For importers, it's a positive story," says Jordan Rochester, a senior foreign exchange strategist at Nomura Securities. "For anyone importing from the likes of China, importing raw metals and energy from abroad, that's going to be positive for you — as long as it's not priced in dollars, of course."

On top of that, having a strong dollar mutes the effects of inflation.

U.S. travelers

For the first time in two decades, the dollar and the euro achieved "parity," meaning one dollar is worth as much as one euro, and the two currencies are still pretty close to even.

So, U.S. travelers can get better deals on hotel rooms and meals out when they travel to Europe, or anywhere else right now. For them, it's like the world is on sale.

BUSINESS

Europe is on sale. Why the dollar-euro exchange rate is a win for Americans

For the first time in two decades, the dollar and the euro achieved "parity," meaning one dollar is worth as much as one euro, and the two currencies are still pretty close to even.

So, U.S. travelers can get better deals on hotel rooms and meals out when they travel to Europe, or anywhere else right now. For them, it's like the world is on sale.

The losers​

Multinationals

Executives of multinational companies with headquarters in the United States have started to complain that the dollar's strength is hurting profits.

"We had a great quarter, but yet again, the dollar had an even stronger quarter," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said during an earnings call recently.

Salesforce is based in San Francisco, but it sells its software all over the world, in different currencies. Benioff noted that in this fiscal year, a strong dollar is likely to cost the company more than $800 million.

Michael Klein, a professor of international economic affairs at Tufts University, says that when a company like Salesforce converts what it makes in another country into dollars, it gets squeezed.

"Repatriated profits from abroad, in euros or pounds or yen, are going to be worth less in dollars, because a dollar is stronger," he explains.

Emerging economies

Two factors are hitting emerging economies especially hard as the dollar strengthens:

First, most of the world's commodities are priced in dollars. That means oil and wheat and soybeans grown in emerging markets are going to be more expensive.

Second, a stronger dollar is a strain on countries that have debt denominated in dollars. Interest payments are going to be more expensive, and so is refinancing.

Many U.S. exporters

What's good news for importers isn't good for many exporters. When the U.S. dollar is strong, American-made goods become more expensive — and less attractive to shoppers — in other countries.

U.S. tourism

People living in many other countries where the currency is now weaker than the dollar may think twice about traveling to the United States. As the dollar gets stronger, their visits will become more expensive.

ECONOMY

An economic perfect storm is battering emerging markets. Debt crises loom

 

New Topics

Forum List

Back
Top