If Federal Reserve officials want U.S. financial conditions to tighten enough to cool the economy and inflation without triggering a deep recession, they're getting a strong helping hand right now from the dollar. The dollar is at a six-month high and has surged 5.5% since mid-July. That rip higher has been fueled by a rise in U.S. bond yields that has made the dollar much more appealing relative to other currencies. Since the dollar index hit a 15-month low and embarked on its current upswing on July 14, Goldman Sachs' U.S. financial conditions index has risen 52 basis points. The trade-weighted FX rate has been the ... (full story)