The euro is down from this year’s high of $1.3487 on Feb. 24 and has depreciated about 6.9 percent in the past 12 months, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes that measure 10 developed-market currencies.
The euro fell the most in five months against the dollar as Moody’s Investors Service lowered credit ratings on 15 global banks, adding to concern Europe’s debt crisis is worsening.
The 17-nation currency weakened amid reports of possible downgrades and remained lower after the announcement late in the New York trading session. The yen weakened to its lowest level against the dollar in almost a month as U.S. two-year yields exceeded similar-maturity yields in Japan by a larger amount. The dollar strengthened a day after the Federal Reserve declined to increase asset purchases while extending its policy to lengthen maturities of existing debt holdings. New Zealand’s dollar and Mexico’s peso erased earlier gains.
“The news out of Europe remains pretty dour, despite the fact that we’ve had a bit of consolidation higher the last couple weeks,” Mike Moran, a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Bank, said in a telephone interview from New York. “That plays into a broadly risk-averse investor mindset, which has been helping the dollar.”
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