The dollar suffered one its worst weeks in decades as the Fed announced plans to print money at a faster rate.
Last Wednesday, the Fed announced a plan to pump an additional $1.15 trillion into the economy through the purchase of long-term Treasury bonds and other actions. The aggressive Fed move is designed to keep longer-term yields low and stabilize credit markets in the U.S.
The PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund (UUP), which tracks long dollar futures contracts, lost nearly 5% before recovering slightly at the end of the week. UUP is designed to replicate the performance of being long the US Dollar against several currencies including the Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Swedish Krona and Swiss Franc.
Investors seeking to hedge against a weaker dollar have the choice of UUP’s sister fund, the Powershares DB US Dollar Bearish Fund (UDN). For more specific exposure, the WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen Fund (JYF) provides exposure to movements in the Japanese Yen relative to the U.S. Dollar.
For more, see the ETF Directory for a complete listing of Currency ETFs.