Dollar slides as yen and euro regain luster
The dollar slid today, allowing the euro to reach its highest level since January 22, after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered a mixed message about the state of the US economic recovery.
Friday March 8, 10:29 AM
sg.biz.yahoo.com
The euro jumped to 0.8827 dollars at 2200 GMT, from 0.8769 Wednesday in New York.
The Japanese currency, meanwhile, surged through the 130-to-the-dollar level for the first time this year -- to 127.14 to the dollar, from 130.61 a day earlier.
Even though Greenspan was much more upbeat in his written evidence to the Senate Banking Committee than he was last week to the House of Representatives, he nonetheless warned that a strong recovery was unlikely despite the raft of positive data that has come out from the United States since the beginning of the year.
"Greenspan is certainly cautious on the economic recovery, and his comments are denting dollar sentiment," said Neil Mackinnon, senior currency strategist at Merrill Lynch.
"This has provided more of an excuse for traders to liquidate short yen positions," he added, referring to dealers who reversed earlier speculative market positions that the yen would weaken against the dollar. |
