US Dollar Up as Fear Spreads

Added: January 28, 2011

The US dollar up on Egypt concerns. US dollar safer than euro.

US Dollar

The US dollar was up during the Friday currency session. This comes after concerns about Egypt increase and US data is less than positive. The currency was able to improve from some of the losses it faced after Moody's reporting on US credit.

The dollar improved against most major currencies during the trading session, even as US stocks fell back. With the concerns in Egypt, many investors turned to what they considered a safer option in the US dollar. During the early portion of the day, the US dollar got a boost from reports that indicating that the US economy improved at a slightly slower pace in the fourth quarter of 2010 than economists expected. Consumer confidence for the month came in higher than expected, though.

The US dollar did see an improvement after some losses after the United States Commerce Department said that US real gross domestic product improved faster in the fourth quarter than what was expected.

The US Dollar index showed the US dollar moving from 77.707 at the end of the Thursday currency trading session in North America to 78.171 by the end of the Friday currency trading session. This was up from the 77.699 the currency stood at before the growth data was released.

The Euro

The euro moved lower against the US dollar during the Friday session. It moved from US $1.3738 at the end of the Thursday trading session to US $1.3608 by the end of the Friday session.

UK Pound

The UK pound moved from US $1.5933 at the end of the Thursday trading session to US $1.5866 by the end of the Friday session.

Yen

The Japanese yen moved higher against the US dollar during the Friday session. It improved against the Thursday sell off that hurt the currency after the S&P report reduced the country's credit rating. The US dollar moved from Y83.18 at the end of the North American trading session on Thursday to Y 82.16 by the end of the Friday session.

Many of the concerns with the US dollar stemmed from worries about the markets in general. The US dollar is considered safer amongst many investors than the riskier, and often higher profit option of the euro. As investors continued to be concerned about the up and down US data reports and the conflict in Egypt, many pulled back and moved to the safer US currency over other options.

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USD Dollar vs Fear

Posted by Jerry Nissen at Jan 30, 2011 06:21 PM

Heading for the USD in fear at this moment in history could be a shallow move, considering the state of the US shaky regime. Better head for gold or silver as the USD is headed for further trouble if now immediately, for sure soon.

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Egypt Turmoil Could Hurt Emerging Markets

Posted by Sandra Brooks at Feb 01, 2011 07:17 PM

No one really knows at this point if Mubarak will step down, but even if he does it will create a void where fundamentalists can step in. Right now money is being sent from the developed nations to the emerging markets. But if investors begin to believe that emerging markets are unstable then the money will probably stop flowing. What will this do to currencies like the euro, yuan, greenback and Aussie for example? And what will happen to the delicate stability in the Mideast? Emerging markets have actually fuelled much of the recovery to date so cutting off the money supply could actually force a halt to a large share of recovery.

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USA Currency Still Most Stable

Posted by Mark Harmon at Feb 01, 2011 07:17 PM

Not sure what you mean by the ‘US shaky regime.’ The greenback is still the benchmark currency and safe haven asset for investors. There’s a good reason for that too – the US is still the most stable economy despite the economic downturn. And that’s because of the smooth power transfer built into the government. I do think that balancing a portfolio with gold/silver is a good move but it needs to only be a hedge investment against inflation or unanticipated global news. The real issue right now is the possibility of the protests moving into Saudi Arabia and making oil prices skyrocket. Did anyone really know that Egypt was about to bubble over? That’s was really worries me. What next?