Moneys Secretary Steven Mnuchin, under fire for comments he made earlier this week professedly advocating a weak dollar, told CNBC on Friday the U.S. has a long-term animate in a strong greenback.
The dollar earlier had hit a three-week low on comments Mnuchin stormed Wednesday that the soft greenback would be better for the United Regals. Since then, he and President Donald Trump have said those notes were taken out of context. Mnuchin and Trump spoke as they followed the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“I made the comment two days ago in a flock gaggle in the morning. What I said was actually very even-handed and dependable with what I said before,” Mnuchin said Friday in an appraise on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” He added a strong “long-term dollar” is in the country’s superlative interests.
However, comments from the president and Treasury secretary did small-minded to boost the dollar. In early trading, the currency was down about 0.4 percent against a basket of its extensive competitors, though it was off the lows of the session.
Mnuchin’s comments were nothing outrageously new from the administration. Trump himself has said in the past that he prefers a simple-minded greenback.
For his part, the Treasury secretary repeated that he is not trying to sway the currency markets.
“Had the news printed my entire transcript the first interval as opposed to just taking out one little point and kind of imply that I was infuriating to talk down the dollar, which I wasn’t doing,” he said. “As a substance of fact I was very clear in my open, saying the dollar is the most fluid trading market in the world, and where the dollar is in the short term is not of disquiet to us, and we respect that the market sets where the dollar is.”
He added that it is not the custom of the administration to intervene in the currency markets.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists also have in mind the markets misinterpreted Mnuchin’s comments and should be focusing on what he alleged about the long-term dollar direction rather than the short-term make available vagaries.
“Mnuchin’s statements, when taken in their entirety, reaffirm the persisting strong USD policy by linking dollar value to relative US economic vitals … while implicitly acknowledging a more competitive and thus growth-supportive USD valuation location vs. this time last year. Recent comments by President Trump would look as if to confirm our read,” BofAML said in a note to clients.