Whether or not the White House choreographed the dollar's slide to its lowest level in three years, the U.S. administration is certainly providing ammunition for those betting that the greenback will continue to weaken.
The U.S. currency is caught in the rhetorical crosshairs after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin laid out the benefits of a weaker dollar for the American economy at Davos on Wednesday. The comments came days after U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up his protectionist push by slapping tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. Subsequent remarks by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, suggesting that Mnuchin has not shifted America's long-standing strong-dollar policy, did little to slow the currency's depreciation.
Mnuchin's comments give “a green light to ongoing dollar weakness as far as the market is concerned,” said Shahab Jalinoos, global head of foreign-exchange trading strategy at Credit Suisse Group AG in New York. “As long as these kind of messages are presented, it allows the market to imagine that's what the administration wants to see. It validates the idea that further weakness is possible.”
Losses for the greenback have mounted since Trump's inauguration a year ago, with the currency weakening against every Group-of-10 peer. That may have more to do with the vagaries of central-bank policy and interest rates and divisions in Washington than it does with Trumponomics. But whatever the reason, the administration's acceptance of a weak dollar provides additional encouragement for bears.
“Obviously a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade and opportunities,” Mnuchin told reporters in Davos. The currency's short-term value is “not a concern of ours at all,” he said.
The U.S. currency dropped against all its G-10 peers Wednesday, with the British pound and Swiss franc among the leading gainers. The greenback dipped as much as 1.2 percent against the yen, while the euro added as much as 0.8 percent versus the dollar.
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