Contributed by: Nicholas Boguth
An exchange rate is just the price of one currency in terms of a different currency. For example, as I wrote this blog on 9/29/17, the USD/EUR exchange rate was .85. This means that 1 US Dollar would buy 0.85 Euro.
Exchange rates fluctuate though, and this is where things get complicated for investors. Inflation, interest rates, asset flows, trade, and economic stability are all factors that move exchange rates. Below is a chart showing just how much the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Euro has fluctuated in the past 10 years.
Now these exchange rates may not directly affect you in your day to day purchases, but if you are invested internationally, exchange rates affect your portfolio. Head on over to our Director of Investments Angela Palacios’s blog (coming on Thursday!) to read about exactly how exchange rates have affected returns recently.
Nicholas Boguth is an Investment Research Associate at Center for Financial Planning, Inc.® and an Investment Representative with Raymond James Financial Services.