Dollar slides to three-year low as Trump attacks threaten Fed's independence
The dollar tumbled on Monday to its lowest level in three years as investor confidence in the U.S. economy took another hit over President Donald Trump's attacks on the Federal Reserve chairman, potentially putting the central bank's independence under threat.
Trump ramped up his criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Monday via social media, calling him a "major loser" and demanding that he lower interest rates immediately.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar slid as low as 97.923 on Monday, its lowest since March 2022. The currency also fell to a decade-low against the Swiss franc , while the euro broke above $1.15.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that the president and his team were continuing to study whether they could fire Powell, just a day after Trump said Powell's termination "cannot come fast enough" as he called for the Fed to cut interest rates.
Against the Swiss franc , the dollar sank more than 1.5% to a 10-year trough of 0.8063, while the euro peaked at $1.1535, its highest since November 2021.
The dollar also hit a seven-month low against the yen . CFTC data showed net-long positions on the Japanese yen hit a record high for the week ended April 15.
Sterling rose to its highest since September at $1.34, while the Australian dollar scaled a four-month high of $0.6430. The New Zealand dollar reclaimed the $0.6000 level for the first time in more than five months.
Trump's sweeping tariffs and uncertainty over his trade policies have sent global markets into a tailspin and darkened the outlook for the world's largest economy, in turn weakening the dollar as investors pull money out of U.S. assets.
Elsewhere, the onshore yuan rose to a two-week high before paring some of those gains. Its offshore counterpart similarly touched a one-week top of 7.2911 per dollar.
Source: Reuters
