USD at its highest level while the Euro is affected by Turkey’s financial problems

The dollar’s rally continued its uptrend last week, mainly thanks to the uncertainty in other currency markets, leading to increased demand for the greenback as a safe haven for investors.

Although the US dollar ended last week’s trading session with distinct numbers, the currency struggled in the first half of the week to reach the current momentum, as the limited economic data available, together with the market fluctuations led to many US investors not starting any new trades.

However, this changed quickly on Wednesday as demand for the dollar began to rise after both Washington and Beijing announced new mutual tariffs, raising fears of a possible US-China trade war. The rising demand for the US dollar and other safe-haven currencies in the second half of last week, however, led to a dramatic drop in the Turkish lira, which fell to new record lows, leading to a wider sell-off of emerging currencies.

Throughout this week we may see further gains for the US dollar, as the Turkish financial crisis shows no signs of a decline. However, the dollar’s advance may be somewhat limited in the middle of the week, especially with the release of the latest US retail sales figures, which are expected to show a drop in sales growth in July.

The sharp drop in the Turkish lira last week has also led to a fluctuation in the single European currency, with the euro losing its initial gains over last week’s trading sessions. The euro also fell at the beginning of last week as demand weakened due to a sharp drop in German factory orders. However, the euro exchange rate returned quickly on Tuesday following the stop of the greenback, which has eased some pressure on the European currency.

But the euro returned to a downward trend by Thursday, especially with the economic warnings launched by the European Central Bank. Friday’s session also brought further losses to the euro, as the currency was hit by fears of contagion after a 20% drop in the Turkish lira and the European Central Bank indicated that the euro zone might be affected the crisis of Turkey’s currency.

This week may see the EUR continue to decline amid the ongoing selling of the Lira as markets fear that a number of European banks could be affected after investing large sums in Turkey over the recent years.