The combination of the plunge in the US dollar and Treasuries, vast drops in FX carry trades, the equity markets, and oil, along with a jump in the CBOE’s VIX volatility index tells us one thing: the greenback and US assets in general may be losing their luster as “safe haven” assets. Following S&P’s downgrade of the UK’s economic outlook from “stable” to “negative” due to “deteriorating public finances,” there has been increased discussion of the same thing happening to the US as national debt levels soar in light of the government’s efforts to bail out Main Street and Wall Street. However, the Japanese yen did, to a certain degree, maintain its link with risk trends.
