When you're in the White House, all news is good news
The financial media has been obsessed with the gain in stocks in the past year and what it says about the US government. But now they're picking up on another story: the decline of the US dollar.
That doesn't reflect so positively on Trump & Co.
Or maybe a policy of weakening the dollar is what they want. That's the potential implication of a comment today from Mnuchin. He said a weaker dollar is good for the US and good for trade.
"Obviously a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade and opportunities," he said.
In the past few minutes, Commerce Sec Wilbur Ross has tried to walk that back but it's a story that has legs. If Mnuchin were to abandon the official 'strong dollar' policy in the US, that would be a sea change.
Then again, there has been 'strong dollar' talk for at least a generation and it's never backed up with action.
At the end of the day, my belief is that the US isn't managing the dollar, but politicians will try to spin anything as good news.
My take is that the US dollar is going to get beaten up badly in the weeks ahead and this comment will get a lot of attention but the US dollar was already crippled and when something is leaning over the edge, it doesn't take much to topple it.
