Pacific Exchange Rates Report for January 15 – 19
By: Dan Hogan, The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team
Pacific 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.
During the week of January 15th – 19th, nearly every currency within the Pacific region group followed a consistent trajectory. At no point did any currency deviate by more than 0.5% from one another, underscoring the uniformity of the week across the entire region concerning the USD. Subsequently, from the 15th to the 18th, all currencies experienced a decline of at least 2% against the dollar. On the final day, both the Australian dollar (green) and the South Korean won (red) staged a rally, mitigating their weekly depreciation to 1.7% and 2%, respectively. The Japanese yen (maroon) remained relatively stable, registering a modest 2% decrease on the final day, while the New Zealand dollar (blue) hit its lowest point, down 2.1% against the USD. The USD continues to exhibit strength in the Pacific region.
Pacific 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 week of January 15th–19th, all currencies exhibited poor performance against the USD. The South Korean won (KRW) experienced a significant drop, falling just below its lower bound for the first time in two and a half months. Both the Japanese yen (JPY) and the Australian dollar (AUD) declined below or matched the average, marking the third consecutive week of depreciation. In contrast, the New Zealand dollar (NZD) maintained a position just above the median, avoiding the extent of losses witnessed by the other currencies. The USD continues to demonstrate strength in the region, appreciating against each respective local currency following weeks of losses.
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