Word: franc
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Additional help for the pound came from Switzerland, which has been worried about losing export orders and tourists as a result of the rising value of its franc. Last week the Swiss moved to push the franc lower by making heavy purchases of other currencies, clamping a curb on speculative dealings, and cutting the central bank's discount rate from 2.5% to 2%-moves meant to make their franc less attractive for investors who want to flee sterling...
...watchmakers, or 21% of the industry's labor force, have lost their jobs in the past 18 months. More than two-thirds of those still employed are working less than a full day. Sales have been hurt by the global recession and the astronomical rise of the Swiss franc on world money markets, which has added 70% to the dollar price of a Swiss watch since 1971. But the most ominous development has been a marketing blunder: Swiss watchmakers failed to appreciate the sales potential of electronic digital watches...
Something like an old-fashioned monetary crisis gripped Europe last week. Currencies wobbled, governments felt threatened, and the carefully worked-out international agreements aimed at keeping exchange rates stable seemed on the verge of collapse. The French franc lost 3.7% of its value against the dollar and the Italian lira 8.6%. The British pound, weakened by confusion surrounding the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, continued to trade at record low prices. As anxiety began to shake the money of other nations, traders rushed to buy up strong West German marks. That left West German authorities struggling to avert...
...British of precipitating a crisis. He charged London with deliberately letting the pound drop in order to stimulate exports at the expense of Britain's trading partners-a charge that British Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey denied. Fourcade also made a last-ditch attempt to keep the franc in the so-called European snake -an arrangement that bound France, West Germany, the Benelux countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark to hold their currencies within a 4.5% range of fluctuation against each other. Fourcade proposed that the permitted variation be widened slightly, allowing the franc to drift gently down...
...nervousness generated by the troubles of the franc and pound intensi fied the already alarming slide in the lira. In a single day, the lira fell from 842 to the dollar to 880; it closed at 875-down 27.6% from 686 as recently as Jan. 20. To boost government revenues and restore confidence in the lira, the government of Prime Minister Aldo Moro started a harsh austerity policy. Among other things, it raised taxes on auto sales, lifted the price of gasoline by 14.3%, to $1.73 a gallon, and raised the government bank lending rate a startling four points...