Word: dollar
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Money traders like Levy are, consequently, in the eye of a financial hurricane. Though they mostly act on orders from clients rather than initiate trades, they do the actual swapping of dollars for other currencies. And since their arcane business is little understood, they inevitably come under suspicion of abetting the recurrent panics that often cause the dollar to plunge further than any reasonable calculation of its purchasing power would warrant. As Otmar Emminger, head of the West German central bank, complains, "The currency markets have become absolutely irrational...
...agree, though they are making profits out of the irrationality, which they blame on their clients. Asks André Scaillet, chief money trader in Europe for First National Bank of Chicago: "Can you tell me if it's logical to have a 7½% [downward] movement of the dollar against the Swiss franc in a single day? It's out of this world!" Money traders worry quite as much as any finance minister about what the drop in the world's central trading currency is doing to the global structure of finance. Says Michel Grare, trader...
CORPORATIONS. To them, selling the dollar is mere prudence. A Japanese company may book an order to deliver $1 million worth of steel to the U.S., with payment due in 30 days. Rather than wait to receive the dollars, which by then might be worth fewer yen, the company quite probably will immediately sell $1 million for as many yen as it can get, with the dol lars to be delivered in 30 days. U.S.-based multinationals do essentially the same thing. Hercules Inc., a major chemical company, in 1971 negotiated a five-year loan in Swiss francs, on terms...
American heartland. Says Scaillet: "Ten or 15 years ago, American businessmen were so proud to have the dollar. If you talked about the possibility of a depreciating buck, they would laugh in your face. Now they are frequently more bearish on the dollar than the Europeans...
...loans to member banks, from 8% to 8½%, the highest level ever. A key motive for the Federal Reserve's money moves has been to halt a sharp and inflationary increase in the money supply. Also, the Fed is trying to forestall further dumping of the dollar on foreign markets; lower inflation and higher U.S. interest rates should make greenbacks more attractive to hold...