It does not seem so very long ago that foreign currency traders nicknamed the euro “the toilet currency”, because it was going down the pan. That is true no longer. The euro is soaring high, while the dollar is flushed away.

So is this the end of the dollar’s reign as the world’s dominant currency? The answer is almost certainly “no”. But the dollar has a true competitor for the first time in nearly 90 years. This could have important, though largely beneficial, effects on the world economy.