--- title: Here's How Much Less the British Pound Is Worth Today After Last Night's Flash Crash description: The British pound crashed overnight, and decreased in value nearly 5% overall this week compared to the U.S. dollar. The decline is considered to be more fallout from Brexit. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-10-07T14:54:30.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T11:49:18.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Brexit - british pound - exchange rates - pubdesk - U.S. Dollar word_count: 225 canonical: https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-value-american-dollar/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![In this Sept. 13, 2016 file photo, a member of staff at a branch of Halifax bank, in London, displays a new British 5 pound sterling note, made from polymer, which is being launched Tuesday. The beleaguered British pound plummeted briefly to a fresh 31-year low Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, amid intensifying concerns about Britain's exit from the European Union. The pound tumbled nearly 6 percent in early Asian trading, falling as low as $1.1789, according to FactSet data.](https://img.money.com/2016/10/161007_inv_britishpound.jpg) The value of the British pound tumbled sharply overnight, plunging nearly 10% on international exchange markets before bouncing back up nearly as steeply. The takeaway is that the pound is worth 2% less versus the U.S. dollar compared to yesterday, and British sterling's value is down nearly 5% just this week. It's also down roughly 20% compared to the recent past. As of Wednesday, the pound was worth $1.27, a 31-year low for the UK's currency. In the fall of 2014, by contrast, one British pound was worth $1.60. In effect, everything in the UK is discounted by over 20% for people using the newly powerful American dollar. Overnight on Thursday, the pound dropped as low as $1.18, before recovering to $1.23 on Friday morning, [Bloomberg News](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-07/rude-awakening-in-the-u-k-over-brexit-costs-send-pound-tumbling) reported. The decrease was reminiscent of what happened in June, when the pound was hammered after the UK voted for Brexit—the nickname for Britain leaving the European Union. Soon after the vote, the [pound was worth $1.37](https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-dollar/), compared to $1.49 just beforehand. ***Read Next:* Thanks Brexit! Here’s How Much Cheaper It Is for Americans to Visit the UK Now** The latest decreases in the value of the pound come as a result of "growing fears of a 'hard' exit by Britain from the European Union," according to [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets-idUSKCN127024), a situation that has "sent a shiver through world markets." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-value-american-dollar/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Forex", "item": "https://money.com/forex/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here's How Much Less the British Pound Is Worth Today After Last Night's Flash Crash" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-value-american-dollar/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-value-american-dollar/", "name": "Here's How Much Less the British Pound Is Worth Today After Last Night's Flash Crash", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-10-07T14:54:30.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-value-american-dollar/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/brexit-british-pound-value-american-dollar/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T11:49:18.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Here's How Much Less the British Pound Is Worth Today After Last Night's Flash Crash", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/10/161007_inv_britishpound.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1336, "caption": "161007_INV_BritishPound" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-10-07T14:54:30.000Z", "description": "The British pound crashed overnight, and decreased in value nearly 5% overall this week compared to the U.S. dollar. 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