After a localized pullback before the weekend, the dollar resumed its rise on Monday. Reuters reports that it is set to continue rising as the countdown to the US presidential election in two weeks continues.

Elections

Pre-election polls showing a growing chance of former President Donald Trump winning the November 5 election are contributing to the dollar’s strength. The Republican’s tariff and tax policies are believed to keep interest rates high in the US and undermine the currencies of trading partners.

Last week’s movements in currency rates in major markets were driven by the ECB’s dovish rate cut and strong US data that dashed expectations for a prompt rate cut in the US, especially if Trump wins the presidential election.

Trading

The USD/JPY pair was up almost 0.28% at 149.94 as of 11:53 a.m., remaining near the 150.00 mark after briefly breaking through this level last week for the first time since early August.

The USD index, which measures the greenback against its main competitors, was at 103.62 at the time of writing, adding 0.12%. On Friday, the DXY fell by 0.3% as risk appetite increased across all markets after some details on China’s stimulus were released. The dollar gained 0.55% last week.

EUR/USD traded slightly down 0.1% at 1.0856.