What implications could this have for oil? Isn't oil bought and sold using US Dollars? I've always heard the World "Does Business" in US Dollars. Is this the beginning of the end for the Dollar as an international norm?
No, it's not even remotely close to the end of the dollar as the international norm. The dollar is stronger today than it has been in 20 years, and it's gaining strength as the Eurozone and Japan are a mess.
The most likely outcome to this, is that the Yen loses the position it has held on the global stage for the prior 30+ years or so. Japan is the nation that will suffer the most as China's currency rises. Right now Japan is depending on the Yen as their only remaining prop to use against their debt; the weaker the Yen's global position, the less they can spread that debt monetization cost around. China's currency will become the dominant Asian currency; the Euro will remain the dominant European currency (unless something unexpected - and worse than it has already absorbed - happens to rip the union apart (that could be Finland bailing, triggering other nations to leave as well)); the dollar will remain the global reserve currency (there needs to be one, and the West is far more comfortable with that scenario than becoming more reliant on China, as are Japan and numerous China competitors in Asia).
As far as I remember the US Dollar was about 1.25 the value of the Euro at it's peak in 1999/2000.
We traded in dollars at the time.
The dollar is as strong as it is even with 0% interest rates. Imagine if rates were even half the levels they were 20 years ago. I'd definitely make the argument the dollar is stronger today than it has been since the late 1990s when the US economy was riding very high.
In the next few years, most likely the dollar will gain more strength (the US budget is currently under control, growth is ok, and the employment picture continues to strengthen spurring tax growth), the Euro will be debased with more QE in mostly futile attempts to spur Eurozone growth, and the Yen will lose a lot more value. The Yuan is also likely to face significant devaluation as China struggles to grow in real terms, but it will at least see greater global share. Things are looking great for the dollar at least for the next ten years.
The dollar was trading at about 0.75 to the Euro around 2009. What is a challenge in your eyes?
Anyway, these are just opinions ( yours and mine ). Mine: no US rate hike in the foreseeable future, QE4.
The lack of Eurozone growth will spur more QE for years to come. The US is presently done with its QE program, and there's nothing on the horizon that indicates it'll need to return to that in the next several years (large budget deficits would cause that, but so far Congress isn't growing spending in an out of control manner).
That context will push the Euro lower, and the USD higher versus. Until the Eurozone can show off serious growth (not 0.3%-0.5% type 'growth'), rapidly improving household balance sheets, and a significantly improving employment picture (not 11%), the Euro will struggle.
I can't say what adventured meant by a challenge, but it certainly wasn't that. The exchange rate with the dollar is just a function of how many euros exist. Challenging the dollar would be something more along the lines of "do people prefer to store their wealth in dollars or in euros".
See also: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2120/why-is-the-lat...
> Man, where to start? Just because a country's basic unit of currency is worth more than ours doesn't mean the country is richer. If you think that 100 pennies is "richer" than 10 dollars because the absolute number is bigger, then we're not going to have much luck dealing with foreign exchange rates.
> A common myth is that if a currency is worth less than $1, it's weaker than the U.S. dollar, and if it's worth more, then it's stronger. Your Latvian friend is trying to pull this on you, but it's nonsense.
Meaning that if US wanted to buy something off china, it would have to convert USD into Bankor, then buy whatever from China, that would then turn those Bankor into Renminbi (or hold them for more imports).
This would mean that a import heavy nation would find their Bankor exchange rate plummeting etc, potentially balancing out trade.
As long as the USD is the international trade currency, USA can always print to cover needs. This in contrasts to various historical death spirals where a lack of exports and a constant printing to cover foreign expenses ran the currency into the ground.