dollar

The U.S. dollar index hit a more than one-year high this week, up about 5% since late January.

In “The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World’s Most Powerful Money,” journalist and financial historian Brendan Greeley looks at why the dollar is the most powerful currency in the world and how that power has shaped the global financial system.

The U.S. imported more goods and services than it exported — around $70 billion worth — in December, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The U.S. dollar has weakened since January, but even so, it’s still the world’s dominant currency in many ways — you can find it almost anywhere.

The greenback falls to a 10-year low against the Swiss franc. A sense of risk around U.S. assets is undermining their safe-haven status.

Foreign investors wary about the trade war’s impact have been selling U.S. stocks — and by extension, dollars — to invest in other markets.

Economists say that if foreigners buy fewer American goods, then the federal government needs to spend less, but that’s not happening.

Uncertainties about tariffs and inflation are part of the reason the value of the U.S. dollar has fallen sharply in the last few weeks.

It started picking up strength as soon as betting markets indicated he was winning.

The “currency carry trade” is one way investors chase returns by moving their money from one country to another, and it can move currency markets. It’s emblematic of the power of interest rates to slosh money around the globe, and it may be growing.