By: Barbara Zigah
Following yesterday’s press conference held by Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, who fielded questions on the likely direction of the U.S. economy, the U.S. Dollar slipped to new multi-year lows against major currencies. As reported at 2:47 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback’s strength against other major currencies, slipped to a 3-year trough of 72.871 .DXY before easing higher to 72.972 .DXY, a decline of 0.7% in the day’s trading.
With the divergence of the U.S. central bank’s monetary policy from most other central banks clearly being seen, the U.S. currency has no where else to go but down. Against the Euro, analysts say the greenback is targeting $1.50; in today’s Asian trading the greenback fell to a new 17-month low of $1.4882 on the EBS trading platform before easing back to $1.4858. Likewise, the U.S. Dollar fell against the Australian Dollar, touching on new record lows; analysts see $1.10 as a likely near target.
The Fed Chairman’s historic first press conference apparently was intended to lay the framework for further easing measures by the central bank. The current quantitative easing scheme is scheduled to end in June, and some analysts believe that a third round of bond purchases is likely given that the U.S. economy has not significantly improved.