The US Dollar index - a basket of major currencies traded against the greenback - is trapped below an important level. This chart shows it nicely...
Bearish on the dollar
See how the dollar has sunk substantially below its 200-day moving average (red line). The 200-MDA is a long-term moving average that shows the overall health (or otherwise) of the dollar. If the buck trades above the 200, it’s doing OK. If it falls below, things are looking bad.
Things are looking bad.
Since the index fell below 83 on 8 May, it’s been trapped below this resistance level (shown by the green horizontal line on the chart). After a little attempt to rally above 83 on 15 May, the index has fallen almost 3%.
Can the dollar pick itself up again? Well, it could struggle. Following the recent UK "debt downgrade" scare, sentiment is against the dollar, as traders fear the US is also at risk of a rating attack.
Of course, it won’t be a straight line down. The dollar is more resilient than that and won’t give up without a fight. Any more major stock market panics, money will flow back to the "safe haven" of the dollar.
But note the bottom horizontal line (blue) at 76 on the chart. The index has bounced strongly from there before and that could be the next technical "floor" if support at the current 80 level caves in.
That would be another 5% drop for the "buck basket" - a substantial move that should see gold, oil and other dollar-denominated commodities lurch higher.
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