Main Six Exchange Rates Report for October 16 – 20, 2023

By: Dan Hogan, The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team

Main Six Currencies Index

Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency) and then indexed to be 100 at the start of the period.

For the week of October 16th - 20th, there were varying results for the main currencies against the USD. The Australian dollar (grey) posted gains of nearly 0.8% against the dollar by midweek, but depreciated for the remainder of the week, closing out on Friday up 0.2% against the USD. Both the Canadian dollar (red) and British pound (green) did not perform as well, as they both fell by 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. The Japanese yen (black) saw almost no movement throughout the week, finishing the week with gains of 0.0%. Finally, the euro (blue) saw the largest gain this week, strengthening by about 0.5% against the USD by the end of Friday.

Main Six Historical Trends

Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency. The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and average minus one standard deviation, respectively, for the same three-month period.

During the past week of October 16th - 20th, there was little change to the emerging pattern among the prominent currencies against the USD. Across the board, depreciation has significantly leveled out over the past few weeks. The yen (JPY) has seen minimal movement since the beginning of October and the euro (EUR) has even posted small gains in the month of October. The Canadian dollar (CAD) has yet to set a pattern and continues to fluctuate significantly relative to the other currencies. The Australian dollar (AUD) continues to experience the same fluctuation as the CAD, but to a smaller degree. Finally, the British pound (GBP) has started to hover around the lower bound, and slowing its deprecation against the USD. Following months of depreciation against the USD, most currencies have started to trade more consistently at a certain level.