I was reading Mish's little piece on the rise of the Dollar and he seems to conclude that this is happening due to "risk aversion" and that people are "fleeing into safe harbor".
But is this really what is going on? I know that historically this is what happened, people "came home to momma", but his analysis strikes me to be of the same vain as the Feds and Treasuries response to the current problem: Fighting the last fight again.
Considering the lack of credit, the "age of frugality" and that "Cash is King" (supposedly) my reading of the rise of the USD is that people are trying to get Dollars in order to fullfill their obligations, close out positions etc. all of which are denominated in USD.
Considering the amount of debt that is out there and just how much of it is set up / denominated in USD it strikes me that nobody really would go INTO the USD right now as a "safe haven", that at the same time there seems to be very little buying and selling to be happening on the markets seems to support the idea?
Or am I reading this wrong? Are people piling up USD really as a "safety" device?