Sunday, July 26, 2009

Dollar and post presidential election blues




The long-run moves have not been positive since the inception of flexible exchange rates.
Hat tip to Larry Greenberg of Currencythoughts.com
"... dollar has a checkered history in years following presidential elections.
  • The U.S. currency devalued in February 1973 and was severed from its fixed parities one month later after which it tumbled another 24% by early July.
  • By end-October 1978, the dollar had lost 29% against the mark in the first 21 months of the Carter Presidency.
  • The dollar experienced a golden age in the first Reagan term, but a change of Treasury Secretaries at the beginning of the second term was associated with plunges of 30% against the mark and 24% against the yen in the final ten months of 1985. By end-1987, the U.S. currency had lost over half its value against the mark and yen.
  • After peaking on June 15, 1989. dollar/mark fell 17% by the end of the year.
  • Verbal sparring over trade with Japanese officials during the first six months of the Clinton presidency caused the yen to soar nearly 25% against the dollar by July 1993."
We can actually go further with some this history. The flexible exchange rate period moved forward with the cover of a second term for Nixon. The Bush presidency was a unusual for not having a dollar run after the election, but it was fighting a recession in his first year the 9/11 events within nine months of taking office. However, the March 2002 through March 2008 period was one of the worst in dollar hitory. There was no strong dollar policy. The dollar during the fist six month of the Obama Administration has suffered after the flight to quality capital flows started to reverse. We will ahve to wait and see what will be the imapct of this dollar decline. The dollar blues have been bipartisan.



No comments: