Don’t Jump on the Dollar Bandwagon, Just Yet

The greenback’s had a banner year and while most investors predict the rally to continue to 2016, gains may be more modest than expected and that could soothe emerging market currencies.

The U.S. dollar index (USD) is poised to end 2015 with a more than 9 percent increase as expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin a tightening cycle boosted buying in the months leading up to the central bank’s historic December meeting.

Now that the Fed has lifted rates and central banks in Europe, China, Australia and Japan remain more likely to provide more stimulus, the divergence in global monetary policy is expected to further underpin the dollar.

But nearly a week since the first U.S. rate hike in a decade, the dollar recorded its fourth straight session of losses on Wednesday. That’s providing relief to battered emerging market currencies: The Indonesian rupiah spiked 1 percent on Tuesday to a one-month high, notching a fourth straight day of gains, while the Indian rupee is also trading close to its best levels in nearly a month.

Several market players, including Citi and National Australia Bank, are anticipating only around 5 percent gains for the dollar next year, compared to Deutsche Bank’s 10 percent.

Historical evidence also supports the case for a milder rise in the dollar next year.

CNBC

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Former Craig

Former Craig

Former Senior Market Analyst, UK & EMEA at OANDA
Based in London, Craig Erlam joined OANDA in 2015 as a market analyst. With many years of experience as a financial market analyst and trader, he focuses on both fundamental and technical analysis while producing macroeconomic commentary. His views have been published in the Financial Times, Reuters, The Telegraph and the International Business Times, and he also appears as a regular guest commentator on the BBC, Bloomberg TV, FOX Business and SKY News. Craig holds a full membership to the Society of Technical Analysts and is recognised as a Certified Financial Technician by the International Federation of Technical Analysts.