Dollar Gains as Fundamentals Spurs Risk Aversion

The US dollar strengthened today as the signs of the weaker global economic growth caused investors seek safety of the US currency, while driving stocks, commodities and riskier assets down.

The downgrade of Spain’s credit rating, the lower imports in China and other fundamental economic data makes traders to worry about sustainability of the global economic recovery. The news from the US weren’t good either. The US trade balance deficit expanded to $46.3 billion in January, more than was predicted. The deficit of the federal budget balance widened from $49.8 billion to $222.5 billion in February. The number of claims for unemployment benefits rose from 371,000 to 397,000 last week, compared to the predicted value of 375,000.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell as much as 1.8 percent to 1,296.76, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 1.2 percent to 277.88, the lowest closing level this year. The Dollar Index, tracking performance of the greenback versus its six major counterparts, gained 0.8 percent.

EUR/USD sank from 1.3908 to 1.3788 today as of 20:44 GMT. USD/JPY traded at 82.95 after it rose from 82.72 to 83.17. USD/CHF advanced from 0.9292 to 0.9363 and later traded at 0.9322.