Free Republic

US Dollar Index (USD) - September Contract - Value against a basket of foreign currencies - $100 is neutral - Above $100 indicates USD strength - Below $100 indicates USD weakness - USD down 12% since January 2025 - That is a significant drop for a major currency

-Uncertainty about U.S. policymaking has led to a flight out of the U.S. dollar and Treasurys, with the dollar index weakening more than 9% so far this year, and analysts see more declines. -The drop in the greenback has led other currencies to appreciate against it, especially safe havens such as the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc as well as the euro. -Currency devaluation is likely to be more of an active consideration across emerging markets, particularly in Asia, said Nick Rees, head of macro research at Monex Europe. -“Emerging markets face high inflation, debt, and capital flight risks, making...

Takeshi Niinami, who is also chairman and CEO of Japanese drinks manufacturer Suntory Holdings, pointed out Japan was the biggest foreign investor in the U.S. and the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds. Japan should therefore talk about more opportunities to invest in the United States, and will keep its massive stock of U.S. Treasurys, Niinami said, adding “We know that the President is [very concerned] over the bond market,” Japan has “many cards” to play in tariff negotiations with the United States, according to Takeshi Niinami, senior economic advisor to Japan’s prime minister. His comments comes ahead of a...

U.S. President Donald Trump's moves to take China to task on trade are likely to backfire as his sweeping global tariffs hit allies as well as rivals, according to former national security advisor John Bolton.

There was an oft-repeated message in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s press conference on Wednesday: Tariffs will raise consumer prices. The U.S. central bank raised its inflation forecast for 2025, as have many economists, due to the expected impact of a trade war initiated by the Trump administration. “A good part of it is coming from tariffs,” Powell said of the Fed’s elevated inflation estimate. “I do think with the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed,” Powell said. His statement comes at a time when pandemic-era inflation has gradually declined but hasn’t yet been fully tamed...

Donors just didn’t want to back a loser — and that’s just what Mr. Trump is now — a loser. “Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, the second-most prolific GOP donor of the midterms, said Tuesday that he would support [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis over Trump, pointing to the Florida governor’s dominant reelection victory in a state that was considered competitive until recently,” The Hill reported this week. “I’d like to think that the Republican Party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser,” said Mr. Griffin, who funded a pro-Trump super political...

Nehal Chokshi, managing director for enterprise and consumer technology at Maxim Group, joins "Squawk Box" to discuss tech stocks and how they'll be affected by the U.S.-China trade war. (this is just a short video clip, I think 3 minutes, 39 seconds)

Throughout the 2016 campaign and since, the president and his party have vowed to kick-start tepid Obama-era economic growth. New government data show that Trump, too, has failed to reach the 3 percent promised land, according to one major metric. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis measured 2018 growth at 2.9 percent, matching the peak Obama enjoyed in 2015. For the rest of the president’s term, economic forecasters agree, that number will decline.