The U.S. dollar hit its lowest level in more than three weeks against the euro, yen, Swiss franc and sterling on Wednesday on continued nervousness about a potential victory for U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump next week.
Investors are rethinking long-held bets on a Nov. 8 victory for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Clinton held a 5 percentage point lead over Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday, but some other polls showed her Republican rival ahead by 1-2 percentage points.
The dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, fell about 0.4 percent to 97.26, its lowest since Oct. 11. The Mexican peso tumbled to a more than one-month low against the greenback of 19.4295 pesos MXN= per dollar on fears of a Trump victory.
Markets’ assumption in the past month has been that the dollar would fall if Trump won. Clinton is viewed as the candidate of the status quo, while there is greater uncertainty over what a Trump victory might mean for U.S. foreign policy, international trade and the domestic economy.
