It was a lousy second quarter, except for the US dollar

The first half of the year was bad for most financial assets, but not for the US dollar.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies, rose 8.7% in the first half of the year, its best first half since 2010. The US dollar continued to rise on Friday, the WSJ Dollar Index rising another 0.39% on Friday.