When Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated her expectations to raise interest rates this year for the first time since 2006 she put smiles on the faces of her peers at central banks around the world.
The U.S. dollar has surged against other currencies, reaching an almost eight-year high versus the yen bringing the yen to 123.12 per dollar since May 21, the day before Yellen gave her speech in Providence, Rhode Island. It touched 123.32 on Tuesday, it’s weakest rate since July 2007.
Central banks in Europe and Japan have been implementing stimuli that would devalue their currencies in an effort to spur inflation while policy makers in other locations are eager to lower exchange rates to strengthen economic recovery.
“A number of central banks around the world would view the recent strength in the dollar as welcome,” said Greg Gibbs, a strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in Singapore. September seems the most likely timing for a U.S. rate increase, and the dollar “was ripe for a bit more movement,” he said.
The euro has sunk 2.1 percent over the period to $1.0881, while the Aussie dropped 1.9 percent to 77.48 U.S. cents and the Canadian dollar has slid 1.9 percent to C$1.2430 per greenback.
More Moves Wednesday
Today should bring additional market movements surrounding dollar strength and bond yields in the context of Federal Reserve tightening.
"We had the market in a tight trading range, but now you see the market fixating on comments out of (Fed Chair Janet) Yellen and fixating on Europe," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. "When the market wants to move higher it will. … We'll be following the dollar. That will be important to see whether or not it gains momentum."