In early New York trading, the Euro suffered a major loss, falling to its lowest point in almost three months versus the U.S. Dollar, following the Moody’s credit rating service threat to downgrade those major European banks which have significant risk exposure in Eastern Europe. According to a senior currency strategist located in Toronto, Canada, investors are looking closely at the bad news coming out of Eastern Europe, including the prospect of a prolonged recession, and the recent GDP slide in Japan’s economy.
The continued poor outlook for global economies led to broad gains in the U.S. Dollar, pushing the Dollar Index near to a 3-month high while investors actively seek the Greenback’s relative safety.
As reported at 9:51 EST in New York markets, the Euro lost 1.3% versus the U.S. Dollar, trading at $1.2602. The Euro also lost 1.2% versus the Japanese Yen, trading at 115.77 Yen. The U.S. Dollar gained .3% versus the Japanese Yen, trading at 91.97 Yen; meanwhile, the .DXY, a measure of the U.S. Dollar versus a basket of major currencies, gained 1.3% trading at 87.588 .DXY.