Saturday, 19 November 2016

Dollars, Dollarettes, and Interest Rates



Interest Rates


As was discussed in the November 3 blog (http://gordonfeil.blogspot.ca/2016/11/election-bombs-and-closing-casino.html) USA interest rates are probably going to be heading up soon. Most likely next month. The very recent strength of the U.S. dollar appears to be expecting this interest rate boost. I don’t think that the USA economy has the strength to support much of a rate increase, but I wouldn’t be surprised if next month’s is only the first of several rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. This is unlikely to be anything but hard on the real estate market. And a collapse in real estate prices often happens 2 or 3 years before or after a stock market crash (see http://gordonfeil.blogspot.ca/2016/11/are-polls-valid.html).

We are seeing upwards pressure on interest rates in Canada also. This will likely help stem the drop of the price of the Dollarette against the Dollar. Not good news for our real estate market. Well, maybe for buyers once the air starts leaking out of market prices.

Dollar Strength


The big currency pair in forex trading is the EUR/USD. The Euro has fallen hard lately. Day after day after repetitive day. 11 straight trading days of sliding for the Euro. Yesterday was the 11th consecutive lower close for the Euro in terms of the U.S. Dollar, but the slide may be over temporarily. We are seeing something close to the lows of late 2015. Maybe those lows are a floor. We’ll see. Late in the week, various fairly reliable momentum indicators seemed to be saying the slide in the Euro is temporarily done. A two or three cent bounce would be no surprise, but I think such a bounce would be short lived. The dollar is the go-to currency in crisis times, and the action lately suggests that people are scared.


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