Is dollar strength today the result of insurance companies liquidating overseas assets to pay out claims to victims of Hurricane Sandy?

Almost certainly no. But that won’t stop the talk from swirling through the market.

In the case of Japan, where capital is routinely sent overseas in search of higher yields, repatriation is real.

Not in the US, where funds invested overseas are part of a portfolio allocation strategy that is unlikely to be impacted by a storm of this magnitude. It was large, but I don’t it was that large, as far as the insurers are concerned.