(1) If you travel abroad frequently, you’ll know that the exchange rates are not always the same. Sometimes you get more foreign currency for your U.S. dollar and sometimes you get less. That’s because, for most currencies, the exchange rate - floats or moves with the market. This movement (in relationship to the U.S. dollar) is a source of risk in doing business with other countries. Even though a company may be doing well within its own borders, currency risk can make it a bad investment when converted to American dollars. Currency fluctuations can happen very quickly. And they can go up and down many times in the course of a day (2) The fortunes of a currency depend on many of the factors used to assess country risk but takes on the added complexity of how the country is doing relative to other countries. Reports of increased inflation immediately lower currency rates. Other factors that influence currency could be the actions of the central bank of the country, such as when it raises or lowers interest rates. Therefore, one important factor in assessing a country’s economy is the volatility of its currency as compared to the US dollar. It’s not just the volatility of the currency that is critical; the nation’s political stability and how this matter is seen by other countries is also a cause for fluctuation. What happens because of reports of increased inflation?
The word currency in Paragraph (2) is closest in meaning to