Dollar rises on new dollar fears

I, for one, will be quite happy to someday see a completely new global monetary system, a much-needed development that is not likely to be painless or voluntary. Then, at least, we can stop reading reports like this one from the Associated Press:

Moody's warning on US, UK ratings lifts dollar
The dollar got a lift Monday morning after a leading credit ratings agency warned that the U.S. and the U.K. could see a downgrade of their top AAA credit rating.

That triggered a pull-back from riskier assets such as emerging-market currencies and stocks as investors sought safety in the dollar.
...
While Moody's Investors Service said the U.K. and the U.S. don't face an immediate threat to their AAA ratings because they are still able to service their debts. Rising interest interest rates could make it more expensive to do that, however.

Investors fled riskier assets into the less-risky dollar that could be downgraded...

Of course, it only works this way for the world's reserve currency - the U.S. dollar - which is, in itself, a big part of the problem.