The stars are aligning for a major bull run in the dollar. As America emerges from the Great Recession in better shape than the rest of the developed world, the US currency is on a roll.
A wave of upbeat economic figures, the latest being robust February jobs data, have pushed the 10-year benchmark Treasury yield back above 2 per cent and left the S&P 500 stock market index sitting just 1 per cent below a record high. And that is good news for the dollar.
On a trade-weighted basis, the world’s foremost reserve currency has marched 4.5 per cent higher over the past five weeks – gaining with relatively risky assets such as equities as US recovery prospects have brightened – while the euro, sterling and yen have all retreated.