The dollar wrapped up its biggest quarterly climb in at least seven years on Friday, along with its largest four-month advance since November 2008 — the latest chapter in what has been a historic year for the greenback. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
-0.07%,
a gauge of the currency’s strength against a basket of rivals including the euro
EURUSD,
-0.13%,
yen
USDJPY,
+0.21%
and British pound
GBPUSD,
+0.40%,
rose 7.2% through Friday, putting it on track for the biggest quarterly gain since the first three months of 2015, when the dollar index rose 9%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
In September, a month where the dollar briefly touched its highest level since 2002, the dollar index rose 3.2%, marking its best month since April, when it rose 4.73%. Thanks to its strong gains during the first nine months of the year, the dollar could be on track for its best annual performance since 2014, when the dollar index rose nearly 13%. See: Why a soaring dollar is raising questions — and doubts— about a Plaza Accord-style intervention Many of the dollar index’s key components have also weakened precipitously against the greenback as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes have boosted the greenback relative to its foreign rivals. The euro was down 6.5% since the beginning of the quarter through Thursday, it’s largest such drop since the fou …