How Much Will Dollar Strength Hurt Exporters?
On a trade weighted basis, the US dollar has appreciated more than 18 percent since July. The typical notion is that dollar weakness helps US exporters while dollar strength hurts them but globalization has actually changed this dynamic with some exporters now benefitting from dollar strength. The key is in their expenses because if they manufacturer abroad, dollar strength reduces their foreign expenses. A perfect example is Caterpillar Inc, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment. In the third quarter, they actually recorded an exchange rate gain because the strength of the dollar reduced their net liability position in Europe. Google on the other hand took a big hit from dollar strength. Although the company does not export anything, more than 50 percent of their revenues come from outside of the United States. As the dollar appreciates, it reduces the value of their foreign earnings. The same is true for Yahoo. Therefore just because a US company is ex
