The dollar closed on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 18.18 pesos at Banamex teller windows, its highest price since April 6, after rising 55 centavos in just three days, according to El Universal Cartera. On the same day, the Mexican peso depreciated 1.3% against the U.S. currency.

The move responds to a massive sell-off in global bonds and to the narrowing interest rate differential between Mexico and the United States. On September 16 the Federal Reserve raised its interest rate, and on September 24 the Bank of Mexico held its own at 6.50%, leaving the differential at 250 basis points, the narrowest level since the country adopted the overnight interbank funding rate, according to El Financiero. For the Mexican economy the effect reaches households' pockets: a more expensive dollar makes imported goods costlier just when headline inflation rebounded to 3.42% in the first half of September, driven by tomato, onion and lemon, according to El Universal Cartera.

At the wholesale level, the exchange rate closed Thursday at around 17.75 pesos per dollar, after trading at 16.86 units on September 4, according to Bloomberg data reported by El Universal Cartera. The peso was the second worst-performing currency of the day, behind only the Colombian peso, which depreciated 2.2%. Banco Base chief economist Gabriela Siller explained that both currencies had benefited from the carry trade, the strategy of investing where the interest rate is higher. "The peso already reflects the smaller rate differential with the United States," said Banamex analyst Laura Díaz. Banamex adjusted its year-end forecast from 17.3 to 17.6 pesos per dollar.

With that forecast on the table, the next appointment for measuring pressure on the peso is Banco de México's next monetary policy decision and Inegi's biweekly inflation reading, which will show whether the pass-through from the exchange rate to consumer prices has already begun.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.