Yimin X
Founder of YX Insights, Ex-FX/Rates Market Maker
The US dollar should strengthen because rates now price a full Fed hike within the next 12 months. That bid for the dollar would pressure commodities, crypto and long-duration risk assets. The view changes if Fed chair Kevin Warsh clearly signals unwillingness to hike, which he might. x.comÂ
The US dollar is supported by hawkish comments from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, which led traders to sharply increase bets on a rate hike as soon as September. The Dollar Index trades around 99.6 after a sharp rise in the previous session. x.comÂ
The US dollar remains an easy long as the Fed turns hawkish, since the only way to control prices now is on the demand side, and that means rates go up. Kashkari's latest comments raise the question of whether the Fed has learned its lesson or is drifting toward Team Transitory 2.0. x.comÂ
The dollar cycle has likely peaked because the Fed's next move is going to be a cut. Supply-shock demand destruction is doing the Fed's job and a strong dollar is doing the rest, so rates should fall, the dollar weaken, and duration assets, commodities and emerging markets reprice. A soon-ish end to the war should work against this view, but even if it drags on much longer, the rates curve has priced it in through the end of 2026. x.comÂ
The US dollar should go higher because the Fed will have to hike and oil is rising, keeping a 105 DXY target intact. Long-end yields rose by the equivalent of a rate hike even as the short end fell. Recent weakness looks like a positioning unwind plus a suspected Bank of Japan yen intervention, a 3.5% move in two hours. The 100 range on DXY needs to hold. x.com x.comÂ
Gold is under pressure as Fed rate-hike expectations rise: after Kevin Warsh's hawkish Jackson Hole speech, markets price a 57% chance of a 25-basis-point hike in September, up from 35%, and gold fell below $4,445 an ounce. x.comÂ
The US dollar looks set for a multi-year bear cycle because a multipolar world needs fewer dollars. Reserve managers are diversifying, trade settles in more currencies and central banks accumulate gold instead. Against an equally weighted basket, the dollar's half-century sequence of lower secular highs is topping again on its 7-to-10-year cycle. Every major commodity bull of the past century ran alongside a falling dollar, which could also bring a second inflation wave. x.comÂ
The Fed's continuing inflation focus and prospect of expensive money for longer are eroding Bitcoin's initial relief from the rate hold. At the 3.75%-4.00% hold, two officials voted to hike; Warsh left further tightening open but did not commit to a December hike. BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF drew $136M yesterday, its third straight inflow session, showing buyers are still present. x.com x.com x.comÂ
The US dollar looks more bullish than bearish because it is priced against other currencies that are hit harder by oil. Most countries' bond yields are rising, not just America's, and the US has the world's most dominant economy, which AI is accelerating relative to others. Still, trading currencies makes little sense when stocks are rising 25%+ a year. x.comÂ
The dollar's longer-term prospects are very negative: 2008 showed the dollar-based system was built on quicksand, and 2026 showed the US has lost its leadership of the Western-oriented world. Both are very positive for gold. First, though, the dollar might rise on a flight to liquidity. x.com x.com x.comÂ
US stocks benefit when rates rise with growth because earnings outpace the drag from higher discount rates. Such periods have historically been very bullish, unlike inflation-led rate rises amid slowing growth. Since fall 2025 the 10-year yield rose from 4.1% to 5.1% while nominal GDP growth accelerated to 6.6%, faster than rates. Being long offers better risk/reward; high oil prices due to the war are the remaining inflation pressure, and an end to the war would improve the setup further. x.comÂ
