The US dollar fell a bit more than 6% during Geithner’s four years as Treasury Secretary, as measured by the Dollar Index. Jack Lew was sworn in as his replacement today.
What might be more interesting is to see Geithner-era US dollar performance broken down by currency. If not for the rally in USD/JPY in the past few months, the dollar would have been down against every G10 currency during his term, including 60% losses against AUD and NZD.
Expect the dollar to perform much better under Lew as investment booms in oil and gas (see today’s WSJ) and the economy recovers.
…and here is a bit of fun.
The best part of being Treasury Secretary is that your signature appears on US paper money.
I assume that shortly after Jack Lew is sworn in, he will be asked to provide sample of his signature to replace Geithner’s (if he hasn’t already).
Here’s the problem — this is Jack Lew’s signature looks like it was penned by a first grader:
There is precedent for this, as Geithner changed his signature to appear more stately on the money but here’s hoping that Lew sticks to his guns… or circles.
