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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (19836)	10/7/2005 8:28:19 AM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Thanks. Your initial post was a little short on words and I didn't understand where you were heading. Combine that with my deficiency in understanding currency markets. I believe I'm in sync now. I did find a link for the index [historical]. It wasn't as easy to find as I thought it should, but... freighttrainstrain.com [see the bottom of the page] Do you think there's a subtle hint about what the author thinks about the US economy in the web address? It actually doesn't look as bad as against the Canadian dollar; something around a 25% drop. Looking at the chart, I could see the technicians jumping into the dollar early this year. It's at a historical bottom, so at least near term there would be a bounce. Noting that the 80's was one heck of a ride. jttmab

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (19836)	10/7/2005 8:55:43 AM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 20773

I expect you've seen at least some of this since 2002. In his annual report to shareholders for 2004, Buffett lamented, "My hope was to make several multibillion-dollar acquisitions that would add new and significant streams of earnings to the many we already have. But I struck out. Additionally, I found very few attractive securities to buy. Berkshire therefore ended the year with $43 billion of cash equivalents, not a happy position." The deal comes as Buffett faces possible losses in his $21.8 billion bet against the U.S. dollar. He started buying foreign currencies for the first time in 2002, with the idea that a growing trade deficit and other economic policies coming out of Washington would cause the dollar to fall. He was right--that bet has netted Berkshire more than $2 billion in gains since he started making it. But more recently the dollar has risen against the Japanese yen, the euro and other currencies. Berkshire reported a $300 million loss from its currency position in the first quarter. Buffett has acknowledged the volatility of currency trading, but says he needs the position to hedge against Berkshire's substantial U.S. dollar exposure. forbes.com