After the recent fall off, the U.S. dollar and currency-related exchange traded funds may now offer a more attractive entry point for traders seeking to hedge further swings in the foreign exchange market.
Since its March 13 high, the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: UUP), which tracks the price movement of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc, has declined 2.7%. Additionally, he actively managed WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: USDU), which tracks the USD against a broader basket of developed and emerging market currencies, has dipped 2.6%. [USD ETFs Pause Their Upward Ascent]
After touching a 12-year high against the euro currency last month, the USD has depreciated 3.7% against the EUR on speculation that the sudden strength in the greenback was hurting the U.S. economy, Bloomberg reports.
However, according to ING Groep NV, concerns over the negative effects of the dollar and the U.S. economy are overblown.
“The market is now pricing in a very subdued pace of the tightening cycle – we disagree,” Petr Krpata, a foreign-exchange strategist at ING, said in the Bloomberg article. “We just see the latest correction as a perfect opportunity to get into the trade again.”
Specifically, the analysts argue that U.S. export industry is not large enough to drastically affect the economy in light of a strengthening dollar. U.S. exports only make up 14% of the economy, the least among Group of 10 nations, compared to Canada’s 30%, Germany’s 46% and over 80% for the Netherlands and Belgium.