Yahoo Finance

The US dollar is rising today, but it's near multi-year lows as global investors pull back from US assets amid a slew of headwinds, primarily tariff uncertainty. So what does a weak dollar mean for American consumers? Here to break down, we've got my Morning Brief co-host, Madison Mills. Maddie, what do we know?

A weak dollar means the value of the US dollar has dropped compared to other currencies, like the euro or the Japanese yen, and that lessens the power of the dollar as a weak dollar buys less foreign currency than it had previously. So here's how that can hit your wallet in three key ways: one, imported goods can cost more, travel to certain areas can get pricier, and gas prices can also rise. So let's kick it off with imports. When an American company buys foreign goods, it typically needs to pay in that country's currency, and this trade war has shown us just how much of our stuff is imported and purchased overseas. Electronics, clothes, even certain cars made overseas, a weaker dollar could raise those prices thanks to currency exchange rates. Let's look at an example of one of those exchange rates through our next focus here, travel. A weaker dollar can mean your vacation budget does not go as far depending on where you're going. A Paris hotel, let's say costs 200 euros a night. If $1 equals 1 euro, a two-night stay costs $400. But if $1 equals 85 euro cents, you'd need $470 to cover that same stay, which is $70 more for the exact same room. Our final example is gas prices. Since oil is priced in dollars on global markets, a weaker dollar typically does mean higher fuel costs, affecting everyone from daily commuters to delivery services or even airlines. To sum it up, a weaker dollar means some things, like imports, travel, and gas, could cost Americans more moving forward, Brad.

All right, thank God I got my Parisian trip out of the way, Maddie, just in time.

Okay.