Trans-Atlantic Exchange Rate Report for January 29 – February 2

By: Ryan Slattery, The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team 

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.  

From January 29th – February 2nd, Trans-Atlantic currencies strengthened overall against the US dollar. Apart from a slight dip in value on Thursday, the Canadian dollar (red) gained value throughout the week, finishing the week up by 0,7%. The Swiss franc (maroon) followed a similar pattern, gaining throughout the week apart from a slight midweek dip; it finished the week with a gain of 1.08%. The Euro (blue) experienced a slight dip in value at the start of the week, offset by a gain on Wednesday. This was followed by a more pronounced loss of nearly 0.4% on Thursday, once again offset by strong gains of 0.65% on Friday. Overall, the Euro closed out the week 0.25% ahead of where it began. The British pound (green) was stable throughout the beginning of the week, but two days of successive losses in value left it down by 0.25% on Thursday. However, a strong performance on Friday left it up by 0.3% for the week. 

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. 

The Canadian dollar (CAD), with its gains this week, moves significantly towards its upper bound. Despite its gains this week, the Swiss franc’s (CHF) rolling average is down for this week, putting the franc nearer to its average than its upper bound. The Euro’s (EUR) slight gains place it at just above its three-month average. The British pound (GBP) moves closer to its upper bound, following stability in the latter half of January. The pound proves to be the only currency that has maintained the heights reached by all four currencies at the end of December.