For Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and many Wall Street number-crunchers, the dollar supplied one of the nastiest surprises of 2005. The world's two richest men and most financial-market seers predicted that the greenback would fall last year, dragged down by America's colossal current-account deficit. Many forecasters were predicting that the euro would buy $1.40-odd by now and that a dollar would fetch less than ¥100. They were all wrong. Although America's current-account deficit headed towards $800 billion in 2005, the dollar rose. It was up by 3.5% against a broad trade-weighted basket of currencies, the first rise in four years (see chart). Against the euro and yen, the greenback did even better. It ended the year at $1.18 per euro, up by 14%. Despite a wobble in December, the dollar made a similar advance against the yen.
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