What else is new? That could easily be the battle cry of currency traders and followers of the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: UUP) and the WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: USDU), but the fact remains when it comes to the dollar and dollar exchange traded funds, it is all about the Federal Reserve.
In the eyes of some currency market observers, the Fed is cooperating with dollar upside. Although the central bank did not raise interest rates in September or October, odds are increasing that borrowing costs will finally climb in December.
Currency traders can track a strengthening U.S. dollar with the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund, 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. Additionally, the actively managed WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund tracks the USD against a broader basket of developed and emerging market currencies.
“While the central bank maintained its ultralow target on the benchmark federal funds rate, it appeared to drop hints that it is still planning to hike rates in 2015, as many Fed officials have called for over the course of the year,” reports CNBC.
Add to that, the European Central Bank has hinted that it could bolster its quantitative easing program, which would likely further depress the euro.