More than seven months into 2017, many investors by now know about the U.S. dollar’s struggles. Down 8.4% year-to-date, the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: UUP), the tracking exchange traded fund for the U.S. Dollar Index, is one of the worst-performing currency exchange traded funds this year.
UUP 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. Other currencies, including the Australian dollar, yen and Canadian dollar have recently been gaining momentum against the greenback.
Although the greenback has been a currency laggard this year, that is not stopping some currency market observers from calling the anti-dollar trade crowded or some analysts from speculating that the U.S. currency is long overdue for a rebound.
“It is too early to declare the dollar is heading into a protracted decline despite experiencing a rough 2017, especially against the euro, Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday,” reports Reuters. “Perception of a stalled agenda on tax reform in Washington, soft domestic inflation and wage growth and a possible change of leadership at the Federal Reserve have hurt the dollar in the first eight months of this year, according to two analysts at the New York-based U.S. investment bank.”