Earlier today, the U.S. Dollar saw its highest gains against the Euro in more than 18 months, and traded near the 16 month high versus a basket of major currencies. These highs were fuelled by continuing global demand for the U.S. currency. The U.S. Dollar index steadied at 83.139 .DXY, coming very close to yesterday’s high of 83.230, the highest the .DXY has been over the past 16 months
Federal Reserve Bank Chairman, Ben Bernanke, yesterday commented that another U.S. government stimulus package would be forthcoming, with a goal to stimulating the beleaguered U.S. economy. Those comments were received favorably by investors, and also helped boost the U.S. Dollar.
The past several days have also seen a loosening of the interbank lending system and an increase in demand not only for the U.S. Dollar but for the Japanese Yen, while investors continue to back away from heavily leveraged positions. According to Derek Halpenny of Global FX Research in London, while there appears to be hopeful indications that the spread of the LIBOR interest rates are decreasing, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a “notable turnaround” for moving out of high risk, highly leveraged investments.
At 08:25 GMT, the Euro traded at $1.3253 down 0.7%, and a slight gain over an earlier low of $1.3237. The U.S. Dollar traded at 108.18 Yen, down 0.7% versus the Japanese Yen; the Euro traded at 133.95 Yen, a loss of 1.4%.