Corporate America Faces Potential Currency Hit as Dollar Climbs

Foreign-exchange volatility is picking up after a lull in the fourth quarter, when multinationals saw currency-related headwinds on their bottom line drop to the lowest level in more than two years.

The negative hit to North American corporate profits from currency swings totaled $2.6 billion in the final three months of last year, the smallest amount since the third quarter of 2021, according to a report Thursday by corporate treasury management company Kyriba Corp.

That soft blow likely resulted from the dollar’s sharp decline in the period as investors upped bets that the Federal Reserve would soon shift to ...