The U.S. Dollar

Negative Sentiment of the Dollar Continues To Build

Gold, the Canadian dollar, the euro and the lowering of short-term interest rates does not bode well for the U.S. dollar. Or at least that is what conventional wisdom is saying. You will be hard pressed to find a financial TV show or publication saying anything positive about the greenback these days.

Arguments are a plenty: the dollar is weak because the Fed added to much liquidity to U.S. economy in 2001 and 2002, the dollar is weak because of our huge trade and budget deficits, the dollar is weak because we are a people who are undisciplined and cannot save. The arguments go on and on. Someone in Barron's actually wrote that the dollar is weak because inflation is high. Outside of housing there does not seem to be a lot of price deflation, but taking the leap to suggest inflation is pervasive enough to cause the dollar to weaken is somewhat of a stretch.

As we have blogged a few times this past month, the U.S. dollar is weak because currency traders have a trend-is-your-friend mentality. They will lever up and follow that trend until they get spanked by central banks. Currency reversals are driven by Treasury secretaries working with central bankers to change the direction of a currency. Expect that to soon happen particularly with the U.S. dollar reversing against the euro. The seeds are already being sown to spank those currency traders good and to drive the U.S. dollar higher. The U.S. economy remains the place to be and the global leader in new business creation. Do not sell the dollar short, go long the greenback.