Strong dollar squeezes Asian markets

Trade war uncertainty means that the MSCI Emerging Markets Currency index is on course for its worst month since May 2016.

A float takes part in a parade in Beijing, China. © Feng Li/Getty Images

China's yuan is sliding against the dollar
(Image credit: A float takes part in a parade in Beijing, China. © Feng Li/Getty Images)

"For currency traders, August was no day at the beach," says Shuli Ren on Bloomberg. Trade war uncertainty means that the MSCI Emerging Markets Currency index is on course for its worst month since May 2016. China's yuan fell to a new eleven-and-a-half-year low against the US dollar. But the falls have been broad-based. Last Monday Turkey's lira briefly plunged as much as 12% against the yen in a "flash crash" that burnt Japan's amateur forex traders.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.