The currency markets

Over the past 24 months the fluctuations in the currency markets have been noticeable to say the least. The Pound has plummeted from its 27 year high of £1 = $2.070 Since then the pound has dropped to lows of around $1.4 earlier this year and recovered to a more respectable $1.65 at the moment. Below is a very brief recap of the Dollar over the recent weeks.

Dollar has slipped again this week, losing ground against the Euro. This has seen an increase in the risk associated with it and led to investors abandoning the currency to find returns elsewhere.

The dollar dropped 3.2% against the Yen and 0.6% against the Euro, whereas it stayed relatively strong against the Pound as it fell by 0.8% against the Dollar.

In other news, the Bank of England announced they would continue their policy of ‘quantitative easing’ whereby the government have injected £50 billion in to the economy through printing money could help to increase mortgage lending.

Currenct exchange rates:

USD EUR GBP JPY 1 USD = 1.00000 0.69959 0.60470 94.8900 Inverse: 1.00000 1.42940 1.65371 0.01054 1 EUR = 1.42940 1.00000 0.86436 135.636 Inverse: 0.69959 1.00000 1.15693 0.00737 1 GBP = 1.65371 1.15693 1.00000 156.921 Inverse: 0.60470 0.86436 1.00000 0.00637

Correct at time of printing (source)

Angel Investing resources - IdealPitch - changes to the main site

IdealPitch is a great resource for connecting: entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and business resources. We've been following the website for quite some time now and seen how its popularity has soared. So, to meet the new demand it appears that they are producing a completely new site, still under the same IdealPitch name and web domain, but upgrading their user interface and the look of the site. So, what exactly is changing with the website?

According to the IdealPitch blog (http://idealpitchblog.wordpress.com/) they are completely redesigning, recoding and reprogramming the site to bring you a faster, more advanced and easier to use website. At the moment you can still Pitch on the main site but any new Pitches will be stored and included on the new site.

So, why change the current look of the site? Well according to my source the new advanced website will make it much easier for entrepreneurs and investors to get in contact with each other and the site will have far more coding than the previous site.

Watch this space, we will be reporting on the new updates later this week and how the site will be changing. In the mean time the guys at IdealPitch have asked me to say that if you have any questions or would like to make a suggestion for the new site then they would be very grateful. So there you have it, send them your ideas and hopefully they will be integrated in the new site.

State v. Commercial

The FT have this week reported on the disparities between state and commercial led venture capital funds. It makes interesting reading that the state led funds have failed to keep pace with the commercial competition. They go on to report that from 2002-04 the commercial funds have achieved a 7.7% return compared with their rivals.

These findings bring in to question the ways in which tax payers money is being spent and whether the goals are in fact viable. The state led funds often lack a financial motivation or are said to be restricted preventing them from reaching their potential. The DTI have unsurprisingly hit back claiming that valuable jobs are being created and that this investment is needed for the economy. This does however somewhat avoid the question of whether we are really getting value for money and should the money be redistributed to commercial Venture Capital funds.

The Angel Investor Blog is back!

Welcome to the new Angel Investor Blog.

On these pages you can find out all the latest news about angel investments. We will feature all the latest information, recent investments, our predictions for the future and changes to the laws that could affect you.

In addition to this, we will keep post about general business and investment news, the current ongoings on our main website and try and answer any questions you may have.

The Angel Investor Blog is affiliated with a number of investment websites, and resources. We are currently affiliated with IdealPitch. IdealPitch helps angel investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who are seeking funding connect and do business with one and other. If you are looking for funding or seeking a new investment then please feel free to view the main site – http://www.idealpitch.com/

You can also follow the IdealPitch blog – http://idealpitchblog.wordpress.com/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/IdealPitch#

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