Gate News reports that on March 6, the U.S. dollar is experiencing its best week in over a year. Amid conflicts in the Middle East and soaring oil prices, the dollar has strengthened as a safe-haven asset. As of press time, the onshore U.S. dollar index has risen 1.5% this week, marking the largest increase since the end of 2024.
Hostile actions in the Middle East are disrupting oil production and shipping, intensifying inflation concerns among the Federal Reserve and other central banks. This has led traders to reduce expectations of Fed rate cuts, further boosting the dollar. The non-farm payroll report released on Friday showed that U.S. employers unexpectedly cut jobs last month.
However, since market focus remains mainly on energy prices, this data only briefly dampened the dollar’s gains. The dollar quickly recovered, and the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield also rose for the fifth consecutive day.
Alex Cohen, a foreign exchange strategist at U.S. Bank, said, “In this environment, the market is looking through weak data because ongoing uncertainty and rising oil prices are the dominant driving factors.”