{"id":122537,"date":"2026-01-12T23:47:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T19:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=122537"},"modified":"2026-01-13T03:13:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:13:30","slug":"usd-under-pressure-political-turmoil-shakes-the-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/usd-under-pressure-political-turmoil-shakes-the-markets\/01\/12\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"USD Under Pressure: Political Turmoil Shakes the Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sudden Slide: The U.S. dollar lost much of last week\u2019s gains, with its index slipping about 0.4% against major currencies. The drop came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell revealed that he faced threats of criminal charges linked to his testimony before Congress, raising alarm over the independence of the central bank.<br><br><strong>Independence at Risk<br><\/strong><br>Powell explained that the pressure stemmed from the Fed\u2019s refusal to bow to political calls for lower interest rates. He stressed that decisions are made in the public interest, but admitted the institution is under unprecedented strain. Investors fear that political interference could undermine confidence in monetary policy.<br><br><br><strong>Global Policy Divide<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Markets now see only a slim chance of a rate cut at the Fed\u2019s January meeting. Looking ahead to 2026, forecasts suggest the Fed may trim rates modestly, while Japan\u2019s central bank could raise them and Europe\u2019s may hold steady. This divergence adds weight against the dollar, widening yield gaps with other currencies and weakening U.S. assets.<br><br><strong>Liquidity Pressures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br><\/strong>The dollar also faces headwinds from increased liquidity. Since December, the Fed has been buying $40 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds each month\u2014a move that typically expands money supply and drags on the currency.<br><br><strong>Leadership Uncertainty<br><\/strong><br>Adding to the tension, President Trump announced he will name a new Fed chair early in 2026. Speculation points to Kevin Hassett as the frontrunner, seen as favoring easier monetary policy. Such a shift could further pressure the dollar at a critical moment.<br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sudden Slide: The U.S. dollar lost much of last week\u2019s gains, with its index slipping about 0.4% against major currencies. The drop came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell revealed that he faced threats of criminal charges linked to his testimony before Congress, raising alarm over the independence of the central bank.Independence at RiskPowell explained &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":111954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-forex-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122545,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122537\/revisions\/122545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}