Article source: CMDGroup

The steep descent in the global price of oil began in early July 2014. It was rapidly accompanied by moderate to severe pullbacks in the posted charges for many other commodities.

Not by coincidence, late-summer 2014 was also the moment that launched many radical readjustments in currency values around the world.

Resource-supplying nations, suffering damage to their foreign trade balances, have been experiencing the most severe exchange rate declines ever since. Russia, Brazil, Australia and Canada are the prime examples.

The United States, viewed by international currency traders as a safe haven amidst all the turmoil, has seen its dollar move from strength to strength.

Nor has it hurt that as possibly the world’s most open economy, the U.S. marketplace has adjusted and recovered better than any other nation’s since the Great Recession. Indeed, U.S. employment and output have improved to such an extent that the Federal Reserve has moved out front among central banks in adopting a hawkish position on interest rates.
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