Trans-Atlantic Exchange Rate Report for December 4-8

By: The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team, Dan Hogan 

Trans-Atlantic 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 past week of December 4th – 8th, all Trans-Atlantic currencies saw varying levels of depreciation against the United States Dollar (USD). After posting a strong 0.5% gain in the early parts of the week, the Swiss franc (maroon) cooled off and fell until December 8th, ending the week down only 0.1%. Other currencies, such as the Canadian dollar (red) and the British Pound (green) saw moderately worse losses throughout the week. Both currencies started out strong before weakening throughout the week, each ending down about 0.3% against the USD. Finally, the Euro (blue) saw the worst of them all, steadily falling until the 7th, were staged a small rally, just to finish the week at –0.9% against the USD.  

Trans-Atlantic 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. 

Over the past week, from December 4th – 8th all currencies cooled off a bit against the USD after strengthening for almost a month straight. The Euro (EUR) dipped below its upper bounds after a poor week, but remains well above its rolling three-month average. Both the Swiss franc (CHF) and British pound (GBP) remained above or equal their upper bounds, but fell nonetheless. Finally, the Canadian dollar (CAD) sits between its middle and upper bound after a mixed week against the USD, sitting at the same value it was in mid-September. Overall, each currency remains much stronger against the USD than they have been since the beginning of fall.