The U.S. dollar is on track Friday for its biggest weekly advance since March 2020 as the Federal Reserve’s third jumbo interest-rate hike and Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish outlook helped send real yields sharply higher. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +1.50%, a gauge of the dollar’s strength against a basket of its rivals, has risen 3.1% this week to 113.16, the highest level for the index since at least 2002. The move in the index was largely driven by weakness in the euro EURUSD, -1.50%, which is the biggest constituent of the index. The dollar strengthened by 0.3% against the Japanese yen USDJPY, +0.69% this week, largely thanks to the Bank of Japan’s decision to intervene in the market to support its currency, which has weakened by nearly 25% against the dollar since the start of the year. The euro has fallen by nearly 15% against the dollar this year, and the dollar index has strengthened by nearly 18% over the same period. The index rose 4.1% during the week ended March 20 as the spread of COVID-19 sparked massive safe-haven flows into the greenback.
