I think for the immediate future the loonie will get slightly stronger (1.93'ish) but eventually I believe if/when the US cuts their rates(in March) by another 50 bps this year then Canada will likely cut by 75 bps by the end of year...somewhat around the summer/autumn the GBP/CDN $ will improve...maybe to 2.1..Don't think we will see much above that this year though...all an educated guess ofcourse. Any other 'guesses' for the high/lows for GBP/CDN for 2008?

GBP United Kingdom Pounds 1.9887470244 0.5028291621
this is the latest quote i ve found today! I expect 2:1 will be the best bet for the rest of the year! if Canada does cut rates things might improve but the UK may also cut rates further!

Where'd you get a rate like that....1.95767 is now quoted on XE.com (and BBC)... down over 3 cents today

GBP United Kingdom Pounds 1.9615855197 0.5097916914 latest figure from XE>COM That rate of 1.99 was from saturday! big drop in one day!!

1.9442 now, Bl00dy marvellous.

Bank of Canada interest rate decision at 2pm GMT today. Some chatter of 0.50% rate cut. Fingers crossed.

Chris

Looks like the expected rate drop in Canada may already be affecting the exchange rate last quote i saw was $1.97-£1. Maybe it will get back above the $2-£1 mark!

Last time I looked it was below yesterday's close. I think it'll take more than an interest rate drop to get past $2 again. Commidity prices will have to drop by a lot and that is unlikely to happen give recent sharp rises and continuation of. Here's praying anyway.

cut 50 bp to 3.50%

Blimey dont look now!

The 0.5% rate cut has added a cent to the dollar-pound. So another 10% rate cut should just about do it.

There are rumours on some "financial" sites of a big commodities correction just around the corner.... that's got to help.

Having said that the UK seems in such poor shape these days it may need a miracle to get back over 2, and several to get back to 2.35!

I think Canada will basically match the agressive rate cuts by the US and UK won't be cutting rates so much...so I think 2.1 is possible over the next year...

Will the rate cuts have a knock on effect on the house prices in Canada?

Well Canada being such a big country it will probably lower the house prices in AB, ON & BC. But in the other provinces house prices will probably keep going up for a little while at least. But no-one is sure if anything will happen at the moment.

The whole point of the interest rate cut is so that people can actually keep on living on their means which in turn will slow down the process of people 'buying' but for smaller provinces people do not live beyond their means and so the interest going down will increase people buying and thus becoming a sellers market.

But this is just theory in reality it could happen differently.