Word: franc
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...factors have taken the urgency out of the drive to create a new monetary system. First, the world has stumbled into a de facto system of "floating" exchange rates in which the dollar price of the German mark, French franc, Japanese yen and British pound is set by supply and demand-and it has proved stable enough. Second, as a result of two formal dollar devaluations, a further downward float, and ravenous worldwide demand for the farm products that the U.S. grows, America is no longer spilling out dollars abroad at an alarming rate...
Morgan, who refused to gamble there for what he regarded as a piddling 12,000 francs top. But last week the wife of an Italian film producer casually threw away a small fortune at roulette; when the croupier tried to stop her from betting above the current 20,000-franc limit, she scornfully referred him to another table for approval...
...long-anemic dollar last week rose in price against the German mark, the French franc and other currencies. By week's end it had gained an average 5.4% from recent lows, recouping two months of losses on world money markets. Gold, the traditional investment refuge of dollar doubters, dipped briefly below $ 100 an ounce for the first time in three months...
Such are the depths of devaluation and disrepute to which the once almighty dollar has fallen. So far this year the German mark and the Swiss franc have appreciated about 35% against the dollar; the French franc has risen 25%. This is causing prices of many European exports to climb intolerably and threatening a number of Continental industries. To ease the situation, European monetary officials went on demanding that the U.S. Government intervene-buy up dollars on foreign money markets to keep the dollar from falling out of sight. What they got in return last week was something short...
...foreign money exchanges, the price of the dollar early in the week fell to postwar lows against some other currencies, including the German mark, Swiss franc and Japanese yen. Just since the start of the year, the dollar has lost a stunning 15% of its value or even more in terms of some major foreign currencies (see chart above ). Although much of this decline was caused by the second formal devaluation in February, enough has occurred in recent weeks of free trading to lead French President Georges Pompidou to describe that drop, accurately, as constituting in effect "a third devaluation...