Word: lira
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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...
...first time ever, the British pound has plunged below $2. It dropped to $1.915 before rising slightly to $1.928 at week's end. The Italian lira has lost 18% of its value since January; it now stands at 806 to the dollar, v. 633 only one year ago. Beset by economic troubles, Spain devalued the peseta by 10% last month. There are strong indications that the French franc may also be forced into devaluation...
...lira jitters were set off by last January's long Italian political crisis. As the country drifted for 35 days without a government, panicky Italians smuggled lire into Switzerland, often lugging them there by the suitcase. To halt the losses, the Italian Treasury in January closed the official foreign-exchange market. Shortly before it reopened
March 1, the lira skidded to 808 to the dollar. After the market reopened, the currency recovered slightly to the 790 range, mainly because the Italian central bank spent $300 million to buy up unwanted lire...
Below the Snake. Measured against the pound or lira, the French franc looks strong. Measured against the deutsche mark, it seems weak-mostly because prices are rising more than 31½ times as fast in France (an annual rate of 9.6%) as in Germany. France is a member of the "snake," a group of eight European countries that have pledged to keep currency-exchange rates within a 4.5% range of fluctuation; the franc is trading right at the bottom of that range. Some French industrialists would welcome a devaluation as a means of making French products cheaper abroad, and some...