Falling Mexican Peso Is Now Worth 5 Cents vs USD Heather Long - CNNMoney
go to original January 23, 2016

Update: Peso’s Free-Fall Will Correct Itself, Predicts Mexico’s Top Banker (The Yucatan Times)

Mexico looks especially cheap these days.

The peso fell to its lowest value ever against the U.S. dollar this week. One Mexican peso is now worth barely more than a nickel ($0.053 cents).

Investors are dumping emerging market stocks and currencies as they flee to assets that appear safer like U.S. government bonds.

"It's not just the peso. The [Russian] ruble hit a record low this week. The [South African] rand last week. It's a broad based sell-off in emerging markets," says Win Thin, global head of emerging markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.

But the Mexican peso has been hit the hardest of them all in 2016.

The problem for Mexico is that it's one of the easiest emerging market currency to trade. So investors have been selling it as a proxy for emerging markets overall.

"It's a 'risk off.' People are selling anything that looks risky," says Thin.

Mexico is also suffering from the dramatic crash in oil prices. Crude oil plays a large role in the Mexican economy, accounting for 11% of exports. As oil fell to its lowest level since 2003 on Wednesday, traders soured even more on the Mexico's currency.

Read the rest at ABC57

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