Business

US Dollar Keeps Falling as Trump’s Tariffs Rattle Investors

Published

10 months ago

April 14, 2025

US Dollar Keeps Falling as Trump’s Tariffs Rattle Investors

The U.S. dollar extended its slide against other major currencies on Monday, the latest sign that investors may be starting to shun what has long been the safest haven in global financial markets.

An index that tracks the dollar against a basket of major trading partners fell for a fifth straight day, even as U.S. stocks and bonds rallied. The dollar has fallen by roughly 8 percent this year, trading near a three-year low.

There has been a particularly steep decline since President Trump announced tariffs on nearly every country’s imports a few weeks ago. The dollar has lost value against the euro, the yen, the pound and a host of other currencies, making imports from those countries more expensive for Americans, even before tariffs are applied.

Investors and many of Mr. Trump’s advisers had expected the dollar to strengthen as tariffs were put in place, given the conventional wisdom that the levies would discourage Americans from purchasing imported goods and in turn reduce the demand for foreign currency. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, argued that the dollar’s appreciation would be significant enough to offset a rise in inflation.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Mr. Bessent sought to push back on concerns about the recent weakening of the dollar, saying it was still “strong” and the “global reserve currency.”

But the magnitude of the tariffs that Mr. Trump has announced has been more substantial than many expected, unleashing turbulence acute enough to raise questions about whether U.S. assets have lost their luster. On multiple days in recent weeks, when the dollar was selling off, so were U.S. stocks and government bonds, a combination that Krishna Guha, vice chairman at Evercore ISI, described as “rare, ugly and worrying.”

In part, the turmoil reflects the confusion about Mr. Trump’s plans for tariffs. Mixed messages about exemptions and pauses, and which products and countries might be hit with new tariffs, have rattled investors who have long seen dollar-denominated assets like U.S. Treasury bonds as the surest thing in finance.

“Both institutional investors and central banks are having to begin to think about what would happen should the dollar and the Treasury market no longer be the safe haven,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the consulting firm RSM.

Sharp moves in the value of the dollar can have a destabilizing effect on the global economy, because it serves as a central pillar of the financial system. The dollar is on one side of nearly 90 percent of all foreign-exchange trades, according to the Bank for International Settlements, from Americans abroad using their credit cards to large corporations making billion-dollar takeovers. Essential commodities, like oil, are also typically priced in dollars, regardless of who is buying or selling.

Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who previously worked at the Treasury Department, said there were reasons not to read too much into the dollar’s sell-off.

For nearly a decade, U.S. assets have been among the best performers in the world — consider the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks that propelled the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to a series of record highs.

“A lot of the money coming into the U.S. hasn’t been coming to the U.S. seeking safety. It’s been coming to the U.S. seeking yield and chasing the run-up in U.S. equities,” he said.

“In that context,” he added, “when there’s a general move to reduce risk — because the world certainly seems a lot riskier after Trump’s tariff announcement — some of that money that was betting on U.S. outperformance and the U.S. continuing to offer outsized returns is being unwound.”

Economists now see much higher odds of a recession in the United States because of escalating trade tensions. That may mean the Fed will be compelled at some point to start lowering interest rates to protect the labor market. Lower rates make holding dollar-denominated assets less appealing, which could put more pressure on the currency. While the bar for future cuts appears high given that inflation is poised to rise as growth slows, signs that the economy is hurtling toward a recession could change the central bank’s approach.

If that transpired, Christopher J. Waller, a Fed governor, would support cutting rates “sooner and to a greater extent” than initially expected, he said on Monday. In a speech, he also acknowledged the turbulence caused by Mr. Trump’s tariffs, saying it was an “understatement to say that financial markets did not respond well” to them.

The dollar would be destabilized further if Mr. Trump sought to undermine the independence of the Fed, which sets interest rates free from political influence. Mr. Bessent said on Monday that monetary policy was a “jewel box that’s got to be preserved.”

Mr. Trump will have a chance to pick a new chair of the Fed after Jerome H. Powell’s term expires in May 2026. The administration will begin that process in the fall, Mr. Bessent said.

But even Mr. Setser acknowledged that there might be something more fundamentally worrying to the dollar’s slide than simply a shift in expectations about the economic outlook.

“It is not crazy to think that after a period of exceptional policy volatility in the United States and with real risk of recession, that some foreign investors might wonder whether they should continue to put an ever increasing amount of money into the United States,” he said.

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Business

L.A. parent of Johnny Rockets, Fatburger and Round Table files for bankruptcy

Published

5 hours ago

January 29, 2026

Press Room

L.A. parent of Johnny Rockets, Fatburger and Round Table files for bankruptcy

The parent company of Johnny Rockets, Fatburger and Round Table Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Beverly Hills-based Fat Brands Inc. said in a statement that it filed for bankruptcy on Monday to restructure the debt it accumulated while expanding its company portfolio, citing “difficult and largely unforeseen” market conditions.

The company’s portfolio includes several brands with roots in the Southland. It owns retro diner chain Johnny Rockets, founded in 1986 on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue; shopping mall staple Hot Dog on a Stick, founded in 1964 in Santa Monica; and hamburger chain Fatburger, founded in 1947 in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park neighborhood.

Fat Brands also has investments in two brands that got their start in the Bay Area: pizza chain Round Table Pizza, founded in 1959 in Menlo Park, and fast-casual chain Yalla Mediterranean, founded in 2014 in Pleasant Hill.

The company has accumulated more than $1 billion in debt, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

“Our dynamic portfolio of brands has demonstrated tremendous resilience in a challenging restaurant operating environment over the last few years,” Fat Brands Chief Executive Andy Wiederhorn said in a statement.

Chapter 11 protection will give the company an opportunity to “strengthen our capital structure to support our concepts,” he said.

Fat Brands has a portfolio of 18 restaurant concepts with more than 2,200 locations worldwide, according to the company’s November SEC filing. More than 90% of its locations are franchised.

Its shares have fallen more than 85% over the last three months. It received a delisting notice from Nasdaq market earlier this month.

Company spokesperson Erin Mandzik said in an email that the company’s restaurants are expected to remain operating as usual throughout the reorganization process.

The Times reported in 2022 that Wiederhorn, Fat Brands’ founder, was investigated for alleged tax fraud. Charges were dismissed in July, but a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to explain its decision, as reported by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Business

A24 acquires Olivia Wilde’s ‘The Invite’ in a major deal out of Sundance

Published

17 hours ago

January 29, 2026

Press Room

A24 acquires Olivia Wilde’s ‘The Invite’ in a major deal out of Sundance

After a competitive bidding process, indie studio A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Olivia Wilde’s comedy “The Invite” in a major deal out of the Sundance Film Festival.

The film, which stars Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, was purchased for around $10 million, according to a person familiar with the deal who requested anonymity due to the sensitive matter. One factor for Wilde was a preference for a traditional theatrical release.

“The Invite” focuses on a dinner party among neighbors and was billed as a must-see after it premiered over the weekend at Sundance. So far, the film has notched a 91% rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The market at Sundance has traditionally been viewed as a bellwether for the indie film business. In the last few years, deals have been slower to emerge from the festival, particularly as streamers stopped offering massive sums for films to stock their platforms and as studios cut back on spending.

The deal for “The Invite” is one of a handful that have already been announced. On Tuesday, Neon said it acquired the worldwide rights to horror film “Leviticus,” which premiered at Sundance. Neon also bought the worldwide rights over the weekend for another horror flick, “4 X 4: The Event” from filmmaker Alex Ullom. That deal was the first to be made in Park City, though the film was not shown at Sundance and will begin production later this year. The value for both of Neon’s deals was not disclosed.

Business

Not ‘Just Ken’: Mattel shares Barbie’s longtime boyfriend’s full name

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2026

Press Room

Not ‘Just Ken’: Mattel shares Barbie’s longtime boyfriend’s full name

At the 2024 Oscars, Ryan Gosling, reprising his role as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 movie “Barbie,” donned a bedazzled pink suit and belted the ballad “I’m Just Ken.”

“I’m just Ken, anywhere else I’d be a 10,” the actor sang. “Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blond fragility?”

Barbie’s needy male counterpart, it turns out, is not “just Ken.” His full name is Kenneth Sean Carson, according to Mattel, which says the doll saw a uptick in popularity in the years following the hit movie’s release.

Ahead of Ken’s 65th birthday, the El Segundo-based toy giant shared a laundry list of niche biographical details about the doll, including his official “birthday” — March 11, 1961, making him a Pisces — as well as his relationship history with Barbie.

The company said in a statement Monday that Ken has “experienced a resurgence in recent years.”

A Mattel spokesperson cited the “Barbie” movie as a driving factor, as it showed a “different side” of Ken. In a meta move, the company later in 2023 released Ken dolls modeled after Ryan Gosling’s portrayal of Ken.

The “Kenbassador” line launched last year was a “great success,” the spokesperson said. The first product in that toy series was a $75 doll modeled after basketball player LeBron James released in April.

Mattel says it does not break out sales of Ken dolls, but in 2017, when Mattel unveiled Ken dolls with different body types, including one that invited “dad-bod” comparisons, the company told the Wall Street Journal that, on average, girls have one Ken doll for every seven Barbies they own.

Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, named the original doll after her daughter, Barbara. The glamorous doll, unique in that it depicted a grown woman rather than a baby, was an instant hit when it debuted at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Barbie has significantly evolved in the decades since. Recent additions include Barbies with Type 1 diabetes and another with autism.

The Ken doll, created in 1961, was named after Handler’s son, Kenneth. He featured molded hair, wore red swim trunks and carried a yellow towel.

Kenneth Handler told The Times in a 1989 story that there were few similarities between him and the doll named after him. He died in 1994.

“Ken doll is Malibu,” he said. “He goes to the beach and surfs. He is all these perfect American things.”

But when Kenneth Handler was at Hamilton High School in Beverlywood, he “played the piano and went to movies with subtitles.” He continued, “I was a nerd — a real nerd. All the girls thought I was a jerk.”

Like Barbie, Ken dabbled in many different careers over the decades. There have been doctor, pilot, tennis player, firefighter, lifeguard, barista and even Olympic skier Kens, among many others. In 2006, he received a “mid-life makeover” from celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch.

According to the company, Ken and Barbie “met” on the set of their first television commercial in 1961 and soon began dating. After more than four decades, the doll couple broke up in 2004, but reunited in 2011.

Mattel was founded by Ruth Handler; her husband, Elliot Handler; and Harold “Matt” Matson in 1945 in a Los Angeles garage. The toy maker became a publicly traded company in 1960.

Mattel, which also owns Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels, wrote in its October Securities and Exchange Commission filing that “industry-wide shifts in retailer ordering patterns” pushed its third quarter net sales down 6%.

In 2024, Barbie gross billings — which measure the total value of products Mattel ships to retailers before sales adjustments — were down 12% from 2023, which had seen a boost from the movie, according to the company’s annual SEC filing.