nspolar, I agree with this assessment -- the U.S. $ is under pressure because of the grand acceptance of the euro. I've been scanning for news articles from various sources and I'd say the our mighty $ is also being "terrorized" by some ME countries that are weary of having their capital in U.S. banks.
As much as I want to, I haven't done any profit taking on my gold stocks and will not for the immediate future.
Regards
Frank P.
In With the New As Europeans Embrace Euro
By Crispian Balmer
ROME (Reuters) - From the Arctic Circle to the fringes of Africa, from the Aegean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, the euro became an everyday reality on Tuesday, giving some 300 million people in 12 European countries a united currency.
Gleaming new euro coins and crisp banknotes became legal tender across much of the continent on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, as politicians predicted that the multi-colored money would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity.
The largest financial switchover in history, ringing down the curtain on some of the world's most venerable currencies, made a smooth start. Few glitches and grumbles marred the launch of Europe's most widely used money since the Roman Empire.
But the real test will come on Wednesday, when the New Year holiday ends and businesses reopen, forcing people to come to terms with the disappearance of their familiar old Deutschemark, franc or lira and get to grips with the pastel-shaded euros.
"The euro is a victory for Europe. After a century of being torn apart, of wars and tribulations, our continent is finally affirming its identity and power in peace, unity and stability," French President Jacques Chirac said in a New Year's address.
The arrival of the notes and coins in 12 of the European Union's 15 states marks the bloc's most ambitious project to date, giving Europeans tangible, everyday proof that they share more than just an accident of geography with their neighbors.
In general, the appearance of the euro was greeted with excitement around Europe as people laid aside worries over often complicated conversions and queued up in the early hours of the morning to retrieve the new notes from banks' cash dispensers.
"Aren't they sweet!" said Alice Magnoni, a 23-year-old student, as she extracted her first fistful of pink 10 euro notes complete with shiny holograms, from a Rome bank.
"It makes me feel that we are part of something bigger."
BORN OF POLITICAL PRESSURE
Politicians hope the euro will stimulate trade and investment by eliminating foreign exchange costs. It is also expected to fuel competition and tame inflation by making it easier to compare prices across the continent.
But whatever the economics, the euro owes its conception to politics. France pushed a common currency plan in 1989 to bind wealthy old rival Germany into an unbreakable alliance as the fall of the Berlin Wall gave Germans a new dominance in Europe.
The euro was born three years ago as a virtual currency for use in financial transactions and it has had a rough time in the world's money markets ever since, losing around a third of its value against the dollar to be worth about 90 U.S. cents today.
Politicians believe that its physical appearance on Tuesday will eventually boost the euro's worth as people round the world come into contact with it and accept that it is here to stay.
Not everyone has bought into the unprecedented project and three EU countries -- Britain, Sweden and Denmark -- have so far refused to relinquish their cherished monetary independence.
"Dawn of a New Error," headlined London's mass-selling Sun newspaper, employing the stylised "E" symbol for the euro over an impassioned plea against ditching the sovereign pound.
However, many economists think that the reluctant trio will have to sign up one day. Britain's Europe Minister Peter Hain warned his countrymen on Tuesday that they could not be a decisive power in Europe if they stayed out of the euro.
It already spreads beyond the EU states that have adopted it -- Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
European micro states such as Monaco and the Vatican have accepted it. So have Kosovo and other parts of the Balkans.
And the sun will never set on the euro -- colonial territories spanning the globe from New Caledonia in the Pacific, via the coast of North Africa to French Guiana in South America have also switched to the new currency.
But talk of the euro displacing the dollar as the world's benchmark has subsided with its problems in recent years.
GLITCHES, GRUMBLES
As New Year revellers tried to make their first euro purchases, some retailers were reluctant, concerned they did not have enough change in euros. Old national currencies remain legal tender in most euro zone countries for another two months.
In a logistical exercise of historic proportions, 15 billion banknotes and 50 billion coins were distributed for the launch.
Worries about crime proved largely unfounded with police reporting few problems except for a theft from a bank of 90,000 euros ($79,720) near the Spanish city of Zamora.
Overall the European Commission said the changeover was going smoothly and citizens were enthusiastic: "It seems that all the reports are positive," spokesman Gerassimos Thomas said.
"Nothing much is happening. No news is good news."
Some minor problems were reported, with many cash machines still offering only old national currencies. But a spokeswoman for the European Central Bank, based in Frankfurt, said most dispensers should be converted to euros by the end of the day.
While most Europeans were curious about their new currency, a few diehards wanted nothing to do with it.
In Frankfurt, one cab driver refused to take a currency many Germans feel has diluted their mighty post-war Deutschemark with weaker, Mediterranean monies: "Anybody who wants to pay me in euros today might just as well get out again," he said.
The new notes in purple, yellow, green, blue, red and orange bear architectural designs of bridges and arches meant to symbolize European openness and cooperation. The coins bear national emblems on one side like Germany's landmark Brandenburg Gate and Belgium's King Albert, a map of Europe on the reverse.
Those are expected to quickly become mixed up as tourists and business people use the currency across the euro zone.
American visitor Maria Louisa Garcia Byrd, 63, from Santa Fe in New Mexico, said she was taking back euros from Germany as gifts. At Frankfurt airport she said: "For me this is a new era breaking through in a united European community."
(Additional reporting in Berlin, Frankfurt, Athens, Helsinki, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Milan and London)
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