Dollar Rises Amid Global Cyber Outage and Economic Data

The dollar increased in trading on Friday, breaking a two-week decline streak, due to a global cyber outage affecting banks, airlines, and broadcasters. The outage originated from a software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Despite these events, the greenback remained robust prompted by U.S. economic data.

The dollar climbed in trading on Friday, poised to break a two-week streak of declines. The climb came as a global cyber outage affecting banks, airlines, and broadcasters unnerved investors. The outage, caused by a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, crippled industries from finance to travel. Services began to come back online after hours of disruption, highlighting vulnerabilities in digital, interconnected technologies.

The dollar index was on track for its second consecutive daily advance, putting the greenback on pace for its first weekly gain in three weeks. This recovery came amid favorable recent U.S. economic data and concerns about the technology outage. Michael Brown, a market analyst at Pepperstone in London, suggested that earlier selling pressures were overdone, especially given firm U.S. economic growth. Although the Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates in September, easing is predicted to be synchronized across G10 central banks.

"The earlier tech issues might have sparked a flight to safety too, causing knee-jerk dollar buying," said Brown. The dollar index, measuring the greenback against a basket of currencies, gained 0.16% to 104.31, up 0.25% on the week. Against the yen, the dollar weakened 0.03%, while the yen has also strengthened due to suspected interventions by Japanese authorities. The euro was down 0.08%, and sterling retreated 0.17% from recent highs. Bitcoin and Ethereum saw gains in cryptocurrency trading.

(With inputs from agencies.)