Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Dollar Fell on Subprime Worries

The greenback suffered further losses on Tuesday as more negative news related to the deteriorating subprime mortgage market was reported.
Two world’s largest credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, today warned of ratings cut on over $17 billion risky mortgages debt, most of which are subprime loans. Coupled with profit warnings from homebuilder and home appliance retailers, subprime debt rating downgrading lead investors highly worried about the subprime issue in US housing market and the severe impact it may spread into the broader economy. The euro formed a base at 1.3730 and refreshed record high to 1.3783 versus the dollar. Following yesterday’s rally, the British pound gained another 1 cent to as high as 2.0361 against the dollar.
The euro was also boosted by hawkish comments from the European Central Bank officials. ECB President Trichet reiterated that the bank’s monetary policy remained accommodative, signaling further interest rate increases. ECB executive board member, Jurgen Stark, said today that euro appreciation reflected the strength of economic growth in Europe.

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