Check Out How Emerging Market Currencies Got Smoked Today

Emerging markets (EM) have been front-and-center in global markets this week as the sell-off that roiled the asset class for much of the summer has picked up again.

The big losers today: Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, and India.

The U.S. dollar is up 2.4% against the Brazilian real today, 2.0% higher against the Mexican peso, 1.8% higher against the South African rand, 1.6% higher against the Turkish lira, and 1.3% higher against the Indian rupee.

Though the sell-off across EM has been going for the past week or so, the dollar got an additional boost today from the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July FOMC meeting, which markets are interpreting as a sign that the Federal Reserve is on track to taper the pace of monthly bond purchases it makes under quantitative easing perhaps as soon as the central bank's September FOMC meeting.

The chart below shows the action in the U.S. dollar-Brazilian real exchange rate in 2013, including the big surge today on the far right.