- Key Battle on Election Betting Market Heads to Appeals Court
By John Haughey
A legal battle over the future of a website’s election prediction market is set to continue on Sept. 19, when an appeals ...
- House Fails to Pass GOP Stopgap Funding Plan
By Joseph Lord, Stacy Robinson and Jackson Richman
WASHINGTON—The House on Sept. 18 failed to pass a temporary spending fix that would have forestalled a ...
- Teamsters Union Makes No Endorsement for President
By Jacob Burg
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said on Sept. 18 that it will not endorse a presidential candidate, the first time it has ...
- Arizona Officials Find Nearly 100,000 Voters Didn’t Provide Proof of Citizenship
By Zachary Stieber
Officials in Arizona have discovered a flaw that allowed some 97,000 residents to vote in state and local races despite not providing ...
- Americans Can Now Renew Their Passports Online: Everything You Need to Know
By Jack Phillips
The U.S. Department of State on Wednesday announced that Americans can now renew their passports online, bypassing a mail-in method that could ...
- Suspicious Packages Sent to Election Officials Across United States
By Caden Pearson
Suspicious packages containing white powder have been sent to election officials in more than a dozen states since Sept. 16, prompting investigations ...
- Top Election Officials Tell Congress Voter Roll Accuracy Is Improving but Other Issues Remain
By Steven Kovac
Fifty-five days before the Nov. 5 general election, six secretaries of state from around the country told a congressional committee that they ...
- Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Arrested in New York
By Caden Pearson
Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested by federal agents in Manhattan on Monday night, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors did not immediately announce details of the ...
- Trump Vows to End Taxes on Overtime. Here’s What It Means for the Economy
By Andrew Moran
Former President Donald Trump pledged during a campaign rally on Sept. 12 to eliminate taxes on overtime pay for workers who clock ...
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules to Disqualify Undated, Misdated Mail-In Ballots
By Tom Ozimek
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a decision on Sept. 13 that upholds a requirement in the key battleground state that voters must ...
- Early Voting, Mail-in Voting, and Drop Boxes: The Rules in Each Battleground State
By Nathan Worcester
Many Americans yearn for a simple, one-day election. For now, though, national elections are sprawling, weeks-long “election seasons” that differ significantly from ...
- Trump Assassination Suspect Identified as Ryan Wesley Routh
By Jack Phillips, Joseph Lord and Melanie Sun
The suspected would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump has been identified by officials as Ryan Wesley ...
![Strong labor data and positive expectations about the incoming Trump administration pushed the U.S. dollar to a two-year high on Thursday. The U.S. dollar iIndex hit a high of 109.53 on Jan. 2, the first trading day of the year, and the highest since November 2022. The jump came as data released on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor showed that initial jobless claims hit an eight-month low, suggesting a robust labor market, which is a positive sign for the overall economy. The dollar index was trading slightly lower on Friday at 108.96 as of 08:30 a.m. EST. The dollar index increase is also supported by investor confidence in the upcoming Trump administration, which assumes power this month. According to a recent survey by consulting company Teneo, “global CEOs and investors are optimistic about the economic impact of a second Trump administration, outweighing concerns about tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and trade barriers.” Story continues below advertisement In fact, “50 percent of global CEOs are accelerating activities in areas such as domestic and international investment and hiring based on the outcome of the 2024 U.S. election,” it said. While the dollar strengthened, the euro and sterling declined on Thursday. The euro fell to its lowest level in more than two years while the sterling declined to its lowest in eight months. A Dec. 17 report from JP Morgan predicts the U.S. dollar to reach even new highs over the coming months. Related Stories How Major US Stock Indexes Fared Jan. 2 1/2/2025 How Major US Stock Indexes Fared Jan. 2 Americans Have Hopes Trump Will Deliver on Immigration, Economy, Safety: Gallup 1/2/2025 Americans Have Hopes Trump Will Deliver on Immigration, Economy, Safety: Gallup “November’s election outcome has given way to lower global growth expectations, wider growth gaps between the U.S. and the rest of the world, and higher terminal federal funds rate forecasts for 2025—the perfect trifecta of bullish U.S. dollar cyclical impulse,” said Meera Chandan, co-head of Global FX Strategy at the company. “These are early first-order reactions that may give way to deeper rethinks once the full set of Trump administration policies are known next year [2025], but for now, they constitute a solid economic rationale for carrying a long U.S. dollar stance into the first quarter of 2025.” JP Morgan sees the euro’s outlook as bearish, noting the eurozone is especially vulnerable to trade conflicts. And while sterling was the best-performing currency against the dollar last year, such an outperformance is not expected this year, it said. US Economy Performance in 2025 With President-elect Donald Trump set to take power in less than three weeks, there are mixed views about how things could shape up for the American economy. According to a Dec. 9 post by Morgan Stanley, markets are “bullish on Trump’s second term, hoping for tax cuts and better growth.” “We expect no net stimulus and a decent size hit from tariffs and immigration. This should be bullish for bonds as the Fed continues cutting, but could be a disappointment for frothy stocks,” it said. Regarding tariffs, the most likely outcome is a 20 percent hike on Chinese imports and on vehicles from Mexico and the European Union, Morgan Stanley said. Story continues below advertisement It predicts the U.S. Federal Reserve to continue cutting interest rates to a range of 3 percent 3.5 percent by the end of 2025. S&P Global is forecasting the U.S. economy to grow by 2 percent in 2025 and 2026, following an estimated growth of 2.7 percent last year. The company sees inflation to likely remain above the 2 percent level for “longer than we previously thought.” Goldman Sachs predicts the U.S. economy to “beat expectations” this year. “The U.S. economy is in a good place,” said David Mericle, an economist with the company. “Recession fears have diminished, inflation is trending back toward 2 percent, and the labor market has rebalanced but remains strong.” While Trump’s policy changes are likely to be “significant,” Mericle does not see these actions changing the trajectory of the economy substantially. Goldman foresees the Fed reducing interest rates to a range of 3.25–3.50 percent, with the U.S. GDP predicted to grow by 2.5 percent. There have been three consecutive quarters of economic growth in the first nine months of 2024—1.6 percent in the first quarter, 3 percent in the second, and 3.1 percent in the third.](https://www.usnn.news/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/US-Dollar-Index-Hits-Highest-Level-in-2-Years-Euro-Falls-jpg.webp "US Dollar Index Hits Highest Level in 2 Years, Euro Falls | USNN World News")
