The dollar tumbled the most in at least 40 years against the Swiss franc after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep its key interest rate at a record low at least through mid-2013 to revive the flagging economic recovery.
The greenback declined versus the majority of its most-traded peers as the Fed said growth was “considerably slower”than it expected and it’s prepared to use a range of policy tools to boost the economy. The meeting came a day after economic weakening and a Standard & Poor’s U.S. credit-rating cut spurred a global stock rout. Commodity currencies recouped losses sustained just after the meeting. Stocks and gold surged.
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With the Fed saying they have tools available that they are willing to use and giving a more definitive time frame, that is overall going to be a dollar negative,” said John Doyle, a strategist in Washington at the currency-trading firm Tempus Consulting Inc. “Swiss franc and gold have absolutely been the beneficiaries of uncertainty.”
The dollar fell 4.5 percent to 72.09 Swiss centimes at 5 p.m. in New York, from 75.50 yesterday. It dropped as much as 6.3 percent, the most since the beginning of Bloomberg records in January 1971, touching a record low 70.71 centimes. The euro dropped 3.2 percent to 1.0364 after touching the record low 1.0075. The U.S. currency depreciated 1.4 percent to $1.4376 per euro and fell 1 percent to 76.96 yen.
“The Swiss franc is a falling knife, and no one wants to catch it,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist atWells Fargo & Co. in New York. “It will take a policy action to stop and reverse the uptrend in the Swiss.”
The greenback declined versus the majority of its most-traded peers as the Fed said growth was “considerably slower”than it expected and it’s prepared to use a range of policy tools to boost the economy. The meeting came a day after economic weakening and a Standard & Poor’s U.S. credit-rating cut spurred a global stock rout. Commodity currencies recouped losses sustained just after the meeting. Stocks and gold surged.
“
With the Fed saying they have tools available that they are willing to use and giving a more definitive time frame, that is overall going to be a dollar negative,” said John Doyle, a strategist in Washington at the currency-trading firm Tempus Consulting Inc. “Swiss franc and gold have absolutely been the beneficiaries of uncertainty.”
The dollar fell 4.5 percent to 72.09 Swiss centimes at 5 p.m. in New York, from 75.50 yesterday. It dropped as much as 6.3 percent, the most since the beginning of Bloomberg records in January 1971, touching a record low 70.71 centimes. The euro dropped 3.2 percent to 1.0364 after touching the record low 1.0075. The U.S. currency depreciated 1.4 percent to $1.4376 per euro and fell 1 percent to 76.96 yen.
“The Swiss franc is a falling knife, and no one wants to catch it,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist atWells Fargo & Co. in New York. “It will take a policy action to stop and reverse the uptrend in the Swiss.”