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Dollar Breaks 115 Yen on Way to Best Run of Gains in Two Years

Dollar Breaks 115 Yen on Way to Best Run of Gains in Two Years

Dollar Breaks 115 Yen on Way to Best Run of Gains in Two Years
Japanese 10,000 yen, left, and U.S. 100 dollar banknotes (Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar climbed to the highest level in 10 months against the yen as its best run since 2014 showed little sign of abating.

The currency has advanced every week since the election of Donald Trump, and climbed through 115 yen Friday, a level unseen since February. The run of gains has mirrored a similar streak in Treasury yields, as investors price in a faster path of interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The greenback has also rallied as U.S. stock benchmarks set records.

Dollar Breaks 115 Yen on Way to Best Run of Gains in Two Years

“The market is looking for a stronger economy with fiscal stimulus, higher rates, and some easing of regulatory burdens, and that’s pushing up the dollar,” said Steven Englander, global head of Group-of-10 currency strategy in New York at Citigroup Inc., the world’s biggest foreign-exchange trader. “The fact that the market proved so resilient suggests that there’s latent desire to buy dollars."

  • The dollar was at 115.24 yen as of 4:56 p.m. New York time, after touching 115.37, the strongest since Feb. 9
  • The greenback has gained 11 percent in the past five weeks, and has a 61 percent chance of touching 120 yen in the next six months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on options
  • The dollar also climbed against the euro Friday, adding 0.5 percent to $1.0561
  • The European Central Bank’s meeting Thursday has proved a boon for euro bears, even as the institution announced it would slow the pace of its purchases

To contact the reporter on this story: Lananh Nguyen in New York at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Boris Korby at bkorby1@bloomberg.net, David Goodman, Mark Tannenbaum