Australian Dollar at a two year low

I was looking for a new light but I just can't face spending an extra 25% premium on what I would have paid about two months ago when the Aussie dollar was almost equal to the US dollar. :mecry:
Australian dollar drops below 75 US cents - Business - BigPond News
Norm

Hmm. The US dollar has gained value. Last week one euro was 1.45 USD, now it's 1.35. I'm happy for the USAnians, but this makes my DX shopping more expensive, grumble grumble.

Well the low Aussie dollar affects those that are travelling or are staying OS for what ever reason, feel sorry for those.......damn, that includes me!.............have to be even more choozy in what I buy.....

Yes, as we are mostly flashlight importers (I also import Nintendo Game & Watches, Vintage Star Wars and Transformers toys), this Aussie dollar drop is tough.

It was almost 1 AUD to 1 USD two months ago.

Lets hope it can get back to similar levels soon.

Now at a four-year low having dropped briefly below 70c.... the good news is that we're not headed back to the days of 50c as the US economy is headed for recession in the long-term (good luck GWB's successor) so that should slowly bring the rate back up.

I've been succumbing to flashaholism a little now that I've been browsing CPF after waiting for the release of the Cree MC-E.
If I could've predicted the future I would have bought a lot of stuff (P7 torch, Zebralight, Fenix E01 etc.) but I did take advantage of the exchange rate overall, I spent several hundred at DX and KD, and eBay even.

I'm leaving for a 2 week overseas holiday on Saturday... I'm worried my spending money won't be enough now!

The spending spree i was having before has now slowed down to a trickle since the rapid slide of the aussie against the greenback. I was waiting for the aussie to reach parity against the greenback, but that never occurred. I was interested in 2 lights, the Ra Clicky and Arc6, but now the prices of them is costing significantly more!

Arc6 is $300
cheapest shipping option $22.50
Paypal exchange rate 0.7026%
= $459

hmmmmm.... this might be a good time to stock up on some vegemite....

I have been wondering what hobbies have been suffering lately. Who has been putting off that light they want?

nitesky said:

I have been wondering what hobbies have been suffering lately. Who has been putting off that light they want?

Click to expand...

I'm eyeing one, but the US/CDN exchange rate is starting to spread (currently at 11%) so I may not buy anything.

EDIT: Due to the current exchange rate, it's actually cheaper to buy the light from the Canadian vendor than from the US vendor (even with discount code).

AvPD said:

Now at a four-year low having dropped briefly below 70c.... the good news is that we're not headed back to the days of 50c as the US economy is headed for recession in the long-term (good luck GWB's successor) so that should slowly bring the rate back up.

Click to expand...

It seems the world is quickly following the "US recession" you have predicted.

The last trade put the AUD at .671 against the USD.

Norm you couldn't have imagined it would get lower when you wrote that 2 days ago and it has. I hope that once the rate cut is absorbed we might see a little bounceback, from .97 to .67 in 8 weeks is unbelievable volatility.

Glen C said:

Norm you couldn't have imagined it would get lower when you wrote that 2 days ago and it has. I hope that once the rate cut is absorbed we might see a little bounceback, from .97 to .67 in 8 weeks is unbelievable volatility.

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ok Glen, do you have stuff still at the old AU prices??.....no point buying anything with US$ for a little while......

nitesky said:

I have been wondering what hobbies have been suffering lately. Who has been putting off that light they want?

Click to expand...

I buy alot of gadgets from Deal Extreme, which quotes in USD, this has been suffering, no more goodies coming in the mail recently.
I will be putting off the lights that i want to get from the US. I'm looking now more closely from Australian online vendors. Most are very competitive now, so the prices are almost par. With the exchange rates heading south, Australian online vendors are looking much more attractive than buying from the US.

The Market closed today with the AUD at .666 against the USD, with the AUD dropping nearly 2% in one day.

This isn't good for any of us, the world markets are getting scarier every day and it's only going to get worse.

Met with stockbroker today. He's basically walking in circles and mumbling to himself! The world financial situation is total disarray. Just hunker down and hope for the best.... And hope some politicians wind up in jail.

You Aussies have some relief in sight tho - we'll be there on vacation in December and I'm sure my wife will provide a boost to your economy.

BIGIRON said:

Met with stockbroker today. He's basically walking in circles and mumbling to himself! The world financial situation is total disarray. Just hunker down and hope for the best.... And hope some politicians wind up in jail.

You Aussies have some relief in sight tho - we'll be there on vacation in December and I'm sure my wife will provide a boost to your economy.

Click to expand...

Well that sounds great.......just don't bring any of your politicians or money gamblers with you.....they may want to stay.....but then again, they may want to check out our crocodiles, a change on the menu may be welcome

The Australian Dollar has one more casualty.

Southern Lights is shutting down.

Black Rose said:

but the US/CDN exchange rate is starting to spread (currently at 11%)

Click to expand...

Jeez. The US/CDN exchange rate is now at 15%. A 4% change in just 2 days.

Well that's one way to keep me from buying things from DX and some other of my favorite sites.

I think it's safe for politicians and other theives to swim with crocs, gators and sharks. Professional courtesy, ya know.