Won Gains Over 6% in 5 Days

Since I last posted about the won-dollar exchange rate - on Friday - the won has gained over 6% on the dollar. Incredible. And this over the period the massive bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was announced. I would think that would strengthen the dollar and cause the won to slide further, but clearly I don't understand. If anyone can explain this to me, I'd love to get it. Otherwise, I'll just sit happy with the 6% raise I got this weekend. ;^>

Korean Economy Shows Signs of Confidence

The lead story today in the Korea Herald (the leading English newspaper in South Korea) says, "Fears of a financial crisis began to subside yesterday... [and] that the government had resumed intervention to halt the won's further slide." That's good. To be honest, I didn't really know there were fears of a financial crisis, but check out what the won has done against the dollar in the last four months.

This basically the period between when we decided to move to Korea and when we started getting paid. That's like a 15% hit on our salaries! Thankfully, it doesn't really matter what the exchage rate is until we transfer money back to the US, which we're still several months away from. And what really matters is the rate a year from now. Here's a five year graph of the exchange rate, showing the point at which I arrived and departed last time I was here.

Will I be so lucky again this time around? Only time will tell. Then again, if you happen to be a currency speculator, feel free to leave your speculations ;).