Dollar set for biggest weekly advance since March 2020

The U.S. dollar is on track Friday for its biggest weekly advance since March 2020 as the Federal Reserve’s third jumbo interest-rate hike and Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish outlook helped send real yields sharply higher. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index , a gauge of the dollar’s strength against a basket of its rivals, has risen 3.1% this week to 113.16, the highest level for the index since at least 2002. The move in the index was largely driven by weakness in the euro , which is the biggest constituent of the index. The dollar strengthened by 0.3% against the Japanese yen this week, largely thanks to the Bank of Japan’s decision to intervene in the market to support its currency, which has weakened by nearly 25% against the dollar since the start of the year. The euro has fallen by nearly 15% against the dollar this year, and the dollar index has strengthened by nearly 18% over the same period. The index rose 4.1% during the week ended March 20 as the spread of COVID-19 sparked massive safe-haven flows into the greenback.

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