U.S. Dollar Hits Record Low Against Swiss Franc, Dropping 30 Percent In Year

GENEVA -- The U.S. dollar has hit a record low against the Swiss franc of 0.7485 centimes to the dollar – a drop of almost 30 percent from a year ago.

The slump Monday came on the first day of European trading following the U.S. government debt downgrade last week.

The Swiss government was holding an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the current turmoil on the financial markets and how to deal with the increasingly valuable franc that is hurting Swiss exporters.

Shares in Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group were the worst performers among the 20-strong SMI bluechip index on the Zurich exchange.

Swatch shares were down 2.5 percent at 353.50 francs ($465.74), while shares of Swiss banks pushed the SMI as a whole into positive territory in morning trading.

Comments

[Sean Porter]

05:59 PM on 08/09/2011

My goodness, when I was a kid growing up in the very early '70's the Swiss France wasn't even worth a quarter. Today it hit $1.40, sheesh.

[Sean Porter]

06:00 PM on 08/09/2011

I meant Franc, not France. Must learn to use spell czech.

[Orthrus]

10:28 AM on 08/09/2011

The problem with the Swiss Franc as a safe haven is that the economy of Switzerland, and therefore the amount of currency it has, is too small to provide cover for many.

The more demand there is for the SF the higher its value will be but the worse its exporters will fare and then suddenly its economy goes down the tubes; followed quickly by the SF.

[fastflyer]

02:08 PM on 08/09/2011

No, sir - wont go down the tubes, because economical stability has a broader base in this country.

[rbchilds]

09:25 AM on 08/09/2011

Lower valued dollar equals instant inflation, hold on to your lederhosen cause it isn't going to be pretty.

[pat8942]

07:47 AM on 08/09/2011

They don't have an Obama, maybe that's why.

[eriksgarden]

08:15 AM on 08/09/2011

If the US had taken a balanced approach, confidence in the US would be strong. The President caved into Republican demands; giving Boehner 98% of what HE wanted. And what Boehner wanted is what drove confidence into the toilet. If you want to assign blame, then blame the President for negotiating with terrorists.

[rbchilds]

09:20 AM on 08/09/2011

How about blaming the Senate Democrats for voting down Obama's plan 97-0 and tabling the Balanced Budge Amendment?

[hotairlagoon]

11:53 PM on 08/08/2011

Swatch watch!

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

09:34 PM on 08/08/2011

The currency of a country with a balanced budget ammendment is performing better than the US dollar?

Gee. Imagine that. Common fiscal principles really work.

[Vavavoom]

10:44 PM on 08/08/2011

Could it be that the Swiss do not have a Bush tax cuts equivalent?
Well, they certainly do not have military industrial complex.

[madbear]

10:40 AM on 08/09/2011

And look at how much they spend policing the world.

[kamact]

08:32 PM on 08/08/2011

Sure,...this is a currency supported by global tax evasion

[fastflyer]

02:13 PM on 08/09/2011

B.S. my friend!

[Jaguar8450]

07:38 PM on 08/08/2011

Time to start hoarding all that Canadian change we get in lieu of American coinage that is "mixed" into our change by cashiers and vending machines.

[missouriwatcher]

07:23 PM on 08/08/2011

Sure am glad I bought that silver Swiss franc a while back.

[gerald4]

06:34 PM on 08/08/2011

US citizens should demand re-industrialization of the USA because that will create a bigger economic pie with more NATIONAL WEALTH, instead demanding of a larger and larger piece of the existing ever shrinking economic pie, and selling or mortgaging our existing NATIONAL WEALTH assets to pay for our US federal government expenditures that only consumes the NATIONAL WEALTH that was created by previous generations of US citizens!

[dadw5boys]

06:39 PM on 08/08/2011

How do you do that when Businesses left because 1000's of Patents were running out and instead of waiting for their own products to be sent to the USA cheaper than what they can make them for the Business Owner went overseas .
Thus Going Globale !
The U.S Chamber of Commerce got the Businesses leave the county Tax Dollar to help them move, build buidling for factorys and even buy equipment.

[gerald4]

06:53 PM on 08/08/2011

As the USA has purposefully reduced our human scientific and technology resource bases (STEM educated citizens), the USA has stopped being the country that is creating any patents for new inventions or products.

If the USA had technically innovative products that foreigners did not have, then we could get high prices for those products with excessive profits (until the foreigners copy our inventions and/or infringe upon our patents) that would contribuite to the accumulation of new additional NATIONAL WEALTH.

[gerald4]

07:19 PM on 08/08/2011

The more that I think about it, the corporations and other businesses did not just ship their jobs overseas, they just started buying the same products, parts, subassemblies and services from foreign overseas industrial and manufacturing companies, and then stopped buying products made by US manufacturers who then closed their own US located factories and fired all of their US employees as allowed, encouraged and ECONOMICALLY REQUIRED by the US "FREE TRADE" laws that were created in the last 20 years by the Republican and Democrat members of the US congress that the US citizens elected instead of going bankrupt.

US Retail Businesses did not benefit from the US "FREE TRADE" laws that were created in the last 30 years because these US businesses still have to compete with each other on an equal product cost footing as before (with US made product) to supply the US consumer's demand for the very lowest price possible for each product purchase, but US businesses most now compete at the lower price/costs of imported foreign manufactured products because US consumers will not pay anything extra for US made products.

[gerald4]

05:51 PM on 08/08/2011

US government printing and selling newly issued freshly printed paper US Treasury Bonds to pay for federal government expenses that are in excess of the tax collections and this will cause the US dollar's purchasing value will diminish to a tiny percentage of today's purchasing value related to other (industrialized nation's) currencies, and then the Chinese Yuan (or Renminbi) might be the "last man standing" with any value for use in international business transactions.

The Indian Rupee, the Pakistani Rupee, or the Brazilian Real will also have purchasing power after the US dollar purchasing power is destroyed by US government deficit spending since those nations (or their industrial manufacturing businesses and industries) are creating NATIONAL WEALTH instead of consuming NATIONAL WEALTH.

The value of the Euro, Yen and Pound Sterling are also being destroyed by their respective government's deficit spending, anti-manufacturing and anti-wealth creation economic laws and policies, just like the USA is destroying the value of the US Dollar.

Brazil, Pakistan, India, China and other industrialized countries are net creators of NATIONAL WEALTH and the USA is a net consumer (destroyer) of NATIONAL WEALTH.

[Carolab]

12:56 AM on 08/09/2011

If you are going to talk BRIC don't forget  Russia.

[gerald4]

05:23 PM on 08/08/2011

Maybe President Obama has a secret formula that will turn lead into gold, and then the US government will have all of the money that it wants to spend on any and everything that the government employees can think of!

Maybe NOT.

[Ted229]

05:27 PM on 08/08/2011

Obama is such a lead weight on the economy. He would be rich if lead to be turned into gold.

[dadw5boys]

06:42 PM on 08/08/2011

What happened to Pay Go -- cut the amount we want to spend ?

[gerald4]

07:55 PM on 08/08/2011

What was Pay Go? I do not remember.

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

09:36 PM on 08/08/2011

Pay Go magically disappeared under the guidance of Nancy Pelosi.

[LMPE]

05:15 PM on 08/08/2011

We need to be Franc about this...

[Blodo]

10:24 AM on 08/09/2011

Let's get Real.

[madbear]

10:48 AM on 08/09/2011

Yaun....

[Fodder-wing]

05:35 PM on 08/09/2011

Real is we sent men to doubloon.

[gerald4]

05:11 PM on 08/08/2011

After foreigners have used their freshly printed paper US Dollars, US Treasury Bonds and other Securities (earned by foreigners in the industrial nations by manufacturing the things that US citizens imported and consumed) to be redeemed in exchange for title to most all of the privately owned assets located in the USA that were created by previous generations of US citizens, before the de-industrialization of the USA, the foreigners might no longer accept US dollars in payment for the things that US businesses import to sell to US consumers.

When this happens the buying power of the US Dollar will approach ZERO.

The existing US located wealth and assets are finite, and individuals in the industrial nations will stop buying freshly printed paper US Treasury Bonds or "loaning back" the US government their (foreign owned) US dollars after the foreigners own title to most all of the wealth and assets that are located in the USA.

[gerald4]

05:03 PM on 08/08/2011

Future wars might also be industrial wars where the nation with the most wealth creating industrial manufacturing production will win the economic war!

And non-wealth producing nations like the USA might destroy their own economies with (deficit) government spending which will impoverish all US citizens.

Chairman Mao supposedly said something similar to, "Power only comes out of the barrel of a gun".

I believe that Mao was only partially correct because a strong economy is also necessary to arm, feed, support, house, pay and otherwise maintain a strong military force.

All soldiers need to be paid (with a currency that has purchasing value), fed, and happy, or they might overthrow whatever government might be in power at that particular time.

China now has the strong economy and is rapidly building their military technology and military might that will surpass the military capability of the USA in the very near future.