Dollar weakness boosts value of safe-haven currencies — Bloomberg

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.5% on Monday, extending its year-to-date decline to almost 7%. According to the agency, soft US industrial-production data and sluggish progress in trade talks have fueled the sell-off in the greenback. Meanwhile, alternative safe-haven currencies have benefited. The yen gained roughly 1%, and sterling climbed to a three-year high.

Since President Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, the dollar index that tracks the US currency against six major peers has fallen 9%, its worst January-to-April performance since at least 1973, Bloomberg notes.

Analysts expect the downward trend to continue. Meera Chandan of JPMorgan, for example, foresees a second wave of dollar weakness, citing tighter US immigration and fiscal policies and tariff-driven inflation.

Speculative traders increased their net short positions on the dollar in the week ended 22 April. CFTC data show that investors are pulling money out of US assets, a shift that could weaken the currency further, Bloomberg reported.