The escalating conflict in the Ukraine, less-than-dovish Fed speakers, and solid US manufacturing survey data pushed the US dollar index (DXY) to a multi-year high of 97.80 on Wednesday. Investors scrambled to buy US dollars for a second consecutive day as they weighed up increasingly more punitive sanctions on Russia and intensified fighting in the Ukraine.

This time around, however, the DXY as broke above its range, retested, and then continued to new highs. Furthermore, the DXY has suddenly moved further away from its 4-hour 200 EMA. Whilst much of the recent move is driven by geopolitical risk concerns that can easily ebb and flow, the latest shift higher in the DXY is not insignificant.