Some currency investors are literally judging a book by its cover. After seeing widely-read publications such as The Economist magazine plaster their front pages with stories about the collapse of the US dollar, some traders have come to the ironic conclusion that now is the time to bet in the opposite direction.
Now that mainstream publications have started dissecting the impact of the weakening dollar on the global economy and the everyday American, the move lower in the greenback is likely already over, said Dennis Gartman, independent investment advisor and author of the Gartman Letter.
"Simply put, when the magazines of the world find out about the weak US dollar, it is highly unlikely to become much weaker," he said in his latest missive. Gartman said on Thursday he promptly closed some trades betting on the dollar to weaken against the euro and the yen after he saw the cover of the December 2nd issue of The Economist, which featured the image of the first US President George Washington with his mouth agape under the headline, "The falling dollar".
The US dollar has fallen around 9.0 percent so far this year against a basket of six major currencies and is on track for the largest annual decline in three years.