Daniel Gross: Neil Diamond Economics

Obscure economic indicator: immigration applications and the dollar.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Friday, May 27, 2005, at 4:26 AM PT

The dollar's movement tends to confound the plans of math geniuses, professional economists, armchair pundits, and amateur investors. For example, the consensus has long been that the dollar will continue fall against global currencies and that long-term interest rates on U.S. bonds would have to rise to help fund our twin trade and budget deficits. Yet so far this year the dollar has actually gained strength against the euro, and long-term interest rates have fallen.