U.S. Dollar Index climbs to highest level since March 2020

The U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.54% rose almost 0.7% on Friday to 101.25, a level last seen in March 2020 when investors world-wide piled into the greenback during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dollar is getting a lift from expectations that the Federal Reserve is about to start aggressively hiking rates in order to combat inflation, currently at its highest annual rate since 1981. Meanwhile, the British pound GBPUSD, -1.47% has slumped to levels not seen since late 2020 and the offshore yuan [s:USDCNH] is heading for its biggest weekly drop since August 2015.