- State Legal Bureau Claims Democrats Don’t Control Pennsylvania House
By Joe Gomez
Democrats claim to hold power in the narrowly divided Pennsylvania House of Representatives, but a legislative agency in the state has given an opinion to ...
- Senator Kyrsten Sinema Quits Democrat Party in Senate Shakeup
By Tom Ozimek
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced Friday that she has left the Democratic Party and has registered as an independent, saying she’s turning her back on ...
- Kari Lake Reveals When Election-Related Lawsuit Will Be Filed
By Jack Phillips
Republican Arizona candidate Kari Lake indicated that she will attempt to take her election-related lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary after Arizona officials ...
- Google, Oracle, Amazon, and Microsoft Awarded $9 Billion Cloud Deals: Pentagon
By Katabella Roberts
Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle have been awarded lucrative cloud contracts valued at up to $9 billion in total, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) ...
- 23 House Seats Flipped During 2022 Midterm Elections
By Patricia Tolson
A total of 23 seats in Congress flipped political parties during the 2022 midterm elections, data shows.
Of the 23 seats that switched political ...
- Local Nonprofit Raises Over $3 Million For Newport Beach Animal Shelter
By Carol Cassis
A new Newport Beach animal shelter will open next spring thanks to the fundraising efforts by the Friends of Newport Beach Animal ...
- Homeland Security: Deadline for Real IDs Extended Until 2025
By Micaela Ricaforte
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pushing the deadline for Real IDs by two years, meaning Americans will have until ...
- Democrats Reject GOP Request for More Information on US Postal Service Surveillance of Conservatives, Gun Rights Advocates
By Katabella Roberts
House Democrats on Tuesday rejected a request from Republican lawmakers to gather more information about the alleged surveillance of conservatives and gun rights advocates by the U.S. Postal Service.
The ...
- Warnock Defeats Walker in Hard-Fought Georgia Senate Runoff Election
Dan M. Berger
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) won reelection late Tuesday evening in Georgia’s Senate runoff—a victory that will give the Democrats a 51–49 margin in the ...
- Supreme Court Weighs on Brunson v. Alma Case That Could Overturn 2020 Election
By Joshua Philipp
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether it will take up a case that could overturn the 2020 elections and make representatives ...
- White House Breaks Silence on ‘Twittergate’ Censorship Revelations
By Tom Ozimek
The White House has broken its silence on Elon Musk’s stunning release of internal Twitter communications that shed light on the inner workings of ...
- IRS Issues Another Tax Warning to Americans Who Made More Than $600 Online
By Jack Phillips
Independent contractors who made money via online services will have their income reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) starting in 2023, ...
![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 7")
