When you are thinking about sending money abroad, an international money transfer provider is a great option. They can help you with the whole process, provide useful online tools and most importantly bank-beating exchange rates and low or zero fees.
This is a chart showing the change in the USD-SEK mid-market exchange rate over the last week. The Total Cost of each foreign transfer in the above table is calculated as the sum of all fees and the exchange rate margin, which is the difference between the provider's exchange rate and the mid-market USD-SEK exchange rate.
Whenever you are interested in an exchange rate you are actually interested in two currencies due to the fact that the value of a currency must always be quoted in comparison to a second currency.
So it follows that if you are determining the best time to transact, in this case the USD vs SEK, you should pay attention to both United States Dollar and Swedish Krona news and forecasts.
In the third week of April the Dollar Index was rallying strongly towards the mid-97s, slightly below major resistance at 97.70, a break of which would be massively positive for the greenback. The index was up 1.7 percent year-to-date.
The dollar’s strength comes in spite of a dovish surprise in March from the Federal Reserve, which ditched two interest rate hikes from its 2019 projections. Fortunately for dollar holders, the rest of the world has problems and other important central banks also turned dovish, removing much of the incentive for selling USD.
Bloomberg research warned in April of potential for a large upcoming move in the US dollar, up or down. Over the past quarter-century, three prominent troughs in the JPMorgan Global FX Volatility Index were followed by dollar moves over 6-month periods worth 10-15 percent. The index was trading in mid-April at a 5-year low.
2019 has been something of a shocker for the Swedish krona. The currency is the worst performing major currency by some margin, confounding the forecasts of analysts which suggested it would be among the best now that Sweden’s central bank has commenced with a policy tightening cycle (in December it hiked interest rates for the first time in seven years).
Between January and March-8, the krona lost 7 percent of its value against the dollar and slipped to a record low of kr9.5; it also lost 5 percent against the euro, to kr10.65—a six-month low. The krona weakened along with expectations for future Riksbank hikes, which themselves were dented as evidence of a global economic slowdown piled up.
Fortunately for those holding krona, in the week leading up to this report (March-17), the krona was especially strong, making back roughly 40 percent of the aforementioned losses. The rally was driven by speculation that the Riksbank would intervene in the market to strengthen the currency.
“We reiterate our bearish view on the krona,” ING said in February, and “we don't rule out a [EUR/SEK] convergence towards 11.00”—that’s a rate not seen in a decade.
