Word: franc
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...being victimized by exaggerated perceptions of the U.S.'s economic problems, by fluctuations in interest rates and the fickle peregrinations of Middle East oil billions. At one point in the course of some fast and furious trading last week, the greenback was down nearly 14% against the Swiss franc and more than 8% against the West German mark from where it was only two months...
...zing because of a policy switch by the oil-producing countries. Until recently, the oil nations received and invested nearly all of their oil revenues in dollars and British pounds; lately, they have begun to spread out and funnel more of their receipts into other currencies, notably the Swiss franc. Alarmed at a sudden and disruptive surge in demand for Swiss francs from nervous outsiders eager to unload dollar holdings, the Berne government took steps to stop the surge. Nonresident foreigners will have to pay 3% quarterly penalties on new bank deposits of more than 50,000 Swiss francs...
Paris turned euphoric after the agreement was announced. The franc rallied in international trading and stocks rose on the Paris Bourse. French Finance Minister Jean-Pierre Fourcade boasted that the deal would mean "fabulous sums of money for our industry." The agreement, however, is bound to disturb other nations. Washington had been urging Western industrial nations to work together in arranging deals with the oil producers rather than proceed bilaterally. Moreover, the sale of nuclear technology does not appear to be limited by strict safeguards against Iran's developing atomic weapons. Thus other Persian Gulf countries, which already fear...
...mark, in fact, is no longer an ordinary currency; it has become the de facto leader of a whole block of currencies issued by countries that make up an unofficial "Deutsche Mark zone." Include the Dutch guilder, the Belgian franc, the Luxembourg franc, the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian kroner, the Swiss franc and the Austrian schilling. They tend to rise and fall with the mark, so the mark's strength has pushed the value of the dollar down against all of them...
...dollar's true strength or weakness against other European currencies is difficult to judge because of a series of special circumstances. The greenback has dropped just a bit against the French franc because Paris is deliberately holding the value of the franc down in order to gain a trade advantage over other countries. The Italian lira is in trouble as usual but even so, it has gained against the dollar since January-though only because the Bank of Italy has been spending as much as $100 million a day to prop up the lira's price...