As President-elect Trump prepares to return to the White House, the dollar has shown unexpected strength. Earlier this week, the dollar’s nominal trade-weighted exchange rate index compiled by the Federal Reserve was just below 130, the highest level since March 1973. The ICE Dollar Index recently broke through 110, reaching its highest level since November 2022. The dollar index has risen 9% since Election Day and 7.7% in the quarter ending December, its best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2015.