Russian ruble drops to historic low amid sanctions

[unhappycamper]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_ECONOMY?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Russian ruble drops to historic low amid sanctions
By NATALIYA VASILYEVA
Associated Press
Sep 16, 5:46 AM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's currency dropped to an all-time low against the dollar on Tuesday as investors fret about long-term economic damage from Western sanctions.

The United States and the European Union last week imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine that consisted in, among other things, blocking off Western financial markets to key Russian companies.

The Russian currency fell more than 1 percent to 38.80 rubles against the U.S. dollar by noon Moscow time Tuesday. The ruble has lost over 2.7 percent in just two days.

The Russian Central Bank allows the ruble to trade in a range against the dollar and sometimes intervenes in markets to prop it up. It has not been doing so in the past months, however, leaving the ruble to trade only 0.40 rubles away from the minimum level.

[Turbineguy]

1. Putin may want to rethink this.

He's doing to Russia what George W Bush did to the U.S.