- Florida Health Department: CDC Altered State’s COVID-19 Death Data
By Jack Phillips
The Florida Department of Health (DOH) alleged Friday that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) erroneously changed the state’s COVID-19 data without contacting the agency and didn’t ...
- US Army Discharges More Soldiers for Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine
By Jack Phillips
The Army has now discharged 27 soldiers for refusing an order to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the service said on Thursday, confirming that another 24 soldiers ...
- Supreme Court Nominee Won’t Say Whether Cruz Can Change Gender or Race
By Zachary Stieber
A day after declining to define the word woman, Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wouldn’t say whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) could have standing to ...
- Trump Sues Hillary Clinton, Christopher Steele Over Russian Collusion Allegations
By Zachary Stieber
Former President Donald Trump on March 24 sued former Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the man who compiled the infamous Steele dossier on him while ...
- Farmers Paying Triple for Fertilizer: We’re Not the Ones Raising Food Costs
By Beth Brelje
Beep, beep, beep. It’s the familiar sound of food scanned and placed into bags at your local grocery store. You just went ...
- Officials in major U.S. city named for 2020 presidential election ‘bribery’
By Bob Unruh
A complaint has been filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission bringing bribery allegations against the mayor, a former mayor and the city ...
- Confirmation Hearing Flares Up As Questions Raised on Jackson’s View of Critical Race Theory
By Mark Tapscott
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, attended Harvard Law School at the same time as Sen. Ted Cruz ...
- Mother of Hunter Biden’s Child Testified to Federal Investigators: Lawyer
By Zachary Stieber
The mother of one of Hunter Biden’s children answered questions from federal investigators probing Biden’s financial dealings, according to her lawyer.
Clint Lancaster, representing ...
- NASA’s Big, New Moon Rocket Begins Rollout En Route to Launch Pad Tests
By Reuters
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA’s next-generation moon rocket began a highly anticipated, slow-motion journey out of its assembly plant en route to the launch pad ...
- Questions Linger About Pennsylvania’s 2020 Election Results and GOP Response
By Beth Brelje
The certified 2020 election results in Pennsylvania show Joe Biden won with 80,555 more votes than Donald Trump. But when then-Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar certified ...
- New Hampshire Votes for Pharmaceutical Freedom
By Jeffrey A. Tucker
Commentary
The New Hampshire House of Representatives has voted to make Ivermectin available at any pharmacy that wants to distribute this drug even without ...
- Fauci Says He’s Considering Stepping Down
By Zachary Stieber
Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a new interview that he is considering stepping away from the position he’d held since 1984.
Fauci, the longtime director ...
![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 8")
