London (AWP/AFP) – The dollar continues to suffer from the war of customs duties that Washington and Beijing, which threatens American economic health. A weakness whose gold also takes advantage to climb to a new historic summit.
On Friday, the dollar plunged to a lower for more than three years against the euro, and fell to an unprecedented level for more than ten years against the Swiss franc, considered a refuge value. Around 11:20 am Monday, the greenback was still displayed in the red compared to the single currency, facing which it lost 0.45%, at 1.1407 dollars. It also fell 0.72% against the book, at 1.3183 dollars, and released 0.08% to Swiss currency.
At the 145% of cumulative surcharge imposed by Donald Trump on Chinese products since his return to the White House, excluding exemptions, Beijing has retaliated by making his customs duties to 125% since Saturday. The United States has finally exempted high-tech products, smartphones and computers in mind this weekend, as well as semiconductors, of these customs surcharges, imposed as part of the vast protectionist offensive carried out for several weeks by Donald Trump.
But “this will hardly help restore investor confidence” in the dollar and American obligations, points to Derek Halpenny, of MUFG, for whom this announcement “only underlines the lack of strategic reflection of the administration in the face of potential damage caused to the American economy”. In addition, Washington insisted on the “temporary” character of exemptions and on the fact that he still heard the electronics tax.
The American president also said that he would announce “in the week” new surcharge on semiconductors entering the United States, which “will be in the not too far future”. Except for the cancellation of these American surcharges, which seems “unlikely after Chinese reprisals”, the dollar could straighten up if Washington “presented more credible budgetary prospects” than the tax cuts currently provided by Donald Trump, said MUFG analyst.
The weakness of the dollar benefits gold, a competing refuge value, which hit a new record in the night on Monday, at 3,245.75 dollars per ounce, before slightly reflected 0.33%, at 3.226.90 dollars per ounce. In addition, “a lower dollar is favorable during gold, labeled in dollars, because it makes precious metal cheaper for buyers with other currencies”, specifies Frank Watson, analyst at Kinesis Money.
Cours de lundi Cours de vendredi -------------------------------------- 09H20 GMT 21H00 GMT EUR/USD 1,1407 1,1355 EUR/JPY 162,87 163,03 EUR/CHF 0,9302 0,9256 EUR/GBP 0,8653 0,8683 USD/JPY 142,78 143,54 USD/CHF 0,8155 0,8148 GBP/USD 1,3183 1,3087
