[R] Quantmod - modify decimal places

[David Menezes]

Hi Josh 

Thanks a lot - appreciate the answer. Figured it may have worked that way but investigating the url called by the package was a smart move. Guess I'll need to get the info from Bloomberg!

Thanks again
David


Sent from my iPhone

> On 27 May 2016, at 9:52 PM, Joshua Ulrich <josh.m.ulrich at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 8:57 PM, David Menezes
> <david.n.menezes at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi
>> 
>> Apologies if this has already been asked and answered or if I've labelled
>> the subject incorrectly but I can't find a solution using the search
>> function for this group; the vignette documentation for quantmod or general
>> google searches.
>> 
>> I'm attempting to use quantmod to download foreign currency exchange
>> rates.  I'm using the call "getFX" however the output results are always
>> restricted to 4 decimal places.  Generally this is fine but when comparing
>> developing and mature economies this can lead to no answer being returned
>> due to how weak a specific currency is (in relative terms).
>> 
>> For example, compare the following two results for converting USD to
>> Vietnamese Dong (VND):
>> 
>> a)      *1/getFX("USD/VND",from="2016-05-22",to ="2016-05-22", source =
>> "oanda", auto.assign=FALSE)*
>> 
>> This yields…
>> 
>>                USD.VND
>> 
>> 2016-05-22 4.473272e-05
>> 
>> However my preferred call would be:
>> 
>> b)*      getFX("VND/USD",from="2016-05-22",to ="2016-05-22", source =
>> "oanda", auto.assign=FALSE)*
>> 
>> However this yields a zero result:
>> 
>> VND.USD
>> 
>> 2016-05-22       0
>> 
>> 
>> which is clearly wrong.
> That's the data Oanda provides via the URL quantmod::getSymbols.oanda
> uses. Look for yourself:
> 
> http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/download?quote_currency=VND&end_date=2016-05-22&start_date=2016-05-22&period=daily&display=absolute&rate=0&data_range=d7&price=mid&view=table&base_currency_0=USD&base_currency_1=&base_currency_2=&base_currency_3=&base_currency_4=&download=csv
> 
>> 
>> I've tried various things including trying to invoke options (digits = 10)
>> at the start of the script, and even within the getFX wrapper as an extra
>> argument, but it doesn't work.  I can of course run select cross currency
>> rates and invert the results, but that is pretty awkward and it feels like
>> there ought to be a smarter and simpler solution.
> In case it's not clear from what I said above, there's nothing you can
> do to fix this after you've retrieved the data.  You need a more
> accurate data source.
> 
>> Any help greatly appreciated.
>> 
>> Thanks
>> Dave
>> 
>>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
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> Joshua Ulrich  |  about.me/joshuaulrich
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