All other things remaining equal it is a benefit but more so on the cost side of the equation. Local costs in Australia (e.g. labour) become cheaper in US dollars. The revenue is not such an impact as the company is financed in USD and the revenue is in USD.
Unfortunately though for Rio etc...
There are 2 impacts:
1) Direct impact of tougher credit. Our banks borrow abroad as we don't save enough. They will struggle to get the cash at good interest rates.
2) Indirect impact of China slowdown. I don't believe China and the US are decoupled. Only a relatively small...
The 7% is on AUD and the 2.5% is on USD. So not really like for like - they are interest rates on different currencies.
People / hedge funds etc try to arbitrage the interest rate differentials all the time. The reason why it is hard to get ahead doing this is normally the FX rate will...
