LONDON (AP) — The dollar slid to a 15-month low against the euro Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated that interest rates will remain at super-low levels for a while yet and suggested it was not overly concerned by the U.S. currency's decline.
By mid-afternoon London time, the euro was 0.8 percent higher at $1.5077, having earlier risen as high as $1.5096, its highest level since August 2008. The dollar was also down 1.1 percent at 87.55 yen, having earlier fallen to 87.36 yen, its weakest level since January and close to 14-year lows.
The renewed slump in the dollar was driven largely by the publication Tuesday of the minutes to the Fed's last rate-setting meeting on Nov. 3-4.
The Fed said at the time that it plans to keep interest rates at "exceptionally low levels" for an "extended period" — currently the Fed funds rate stands at a range between zero and 0.25 percent — and that the fall in the dollar had been "orderly."
Currency traders seized on the reference to the dollar as the Fed is usually wary of talking about changes in currency values.
Stuart Bennett, senior foreign exchange strategist at Calyon Credit Agricole, said there's now a chance that the euro's breakthrough opens the way for a "rapid" move higher, especially if stocks remain well-bid — for much of the past year, the dollar has moved in opposite direction to stocks.
