October's global sell-off in risk assets served as a warning that the dollar's 2018 uptrend is still a headwind that is dampening risk appetite. This combination of dollar strength and global equity market weakness returned in late January of this year after a one year reprieve following the greenback's 2017 top. This strongly suggests that future global equity market returns are likely to be lackluster until the dollar's current move higher ends. Please see, Keep your eye on the dollar as an indicator of risk sentiment , for a long-term analysis of this relationship. As for this month's post, the focus will be squarely on this ongoing bout of USD appreciation and what its subsequent direction could mean going forward for US & global equities, credit markets, Oil, inflation expectations, and US monetary policy.