There’s perhaps no better symbolic representation of America’s financial might than the U.S. dollar. And right now, the world’s top currency is taking a big, mighty punch.
The dollar has slumped more than 10% this year, posting its worst decline in the first six months of a year since 1973, back when President Nixon shocked the world by detaching the dollar’s value from gold.
The decline reverses a long stretch of annual gains for the dollar — and it’s especially confounding given that the U.S. economy is still doing well.
“America was already great,” says Kaspar Hense, a senior portfolio manager at RBC BlueBay Asset Management.
“We are coming from a very strong dollar level where U.S. exceptionalism was what everybody was speaking about in financial markets,” he adds.
Many investors now fear the decline could reflect a new reality for the U.S., just after the country celebrated its 249th birthday.
A series of chaotic policies and statements by Trump — from tariffs to attacking the Federal Reserve — has shaken some of the confidence investors around the world had long held in the U.S.