I haven’t blogged much about business or investments so this entry is about just that.
It’s only relevant to Americans who live in Thailand or are visiting, but the baht/dollar has risen almost 5% in the past few weeks on better US economic data. I’m thrilled because it decreases the cost of living here by 5% which is pretty significant. It’s more of a dollar strength than a bath weakness as Euro/US and Yen/US have also risen. The baht/dollar in recent years has stayed around 38-42 baht/$. So, equate the rise to receiving a 5% increase in your salary, for doing nothing. It’s a pretty big difference and its currency ups and downs like these that make inter-currency commerce difficult. I once did a paper on the Euro and what an important and necessary change it was for the European Monetary Union…maybe I’ll post it sometime.
Anyway, here are some links to currency related sites that I use:
Oanda — For Daily and Historical Currency Price Quotes and Trading
Dismally.com — A blog written by a currency trader
Tim Laffel’s Cheapest Destinations also has good information for the fx conscious budget traveler.