Currency Trading: Dollar Falls Against Key Rivals Despite Comments by Greenspan
NEW YORK -- A late-session dive by stocks dragged the dollar lower against its major counterparts, despite comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that were interpreted as an attempt to quell the recent turbulence in currency markets.</br></br>In his semiannual testimony before Congress, Mr. Greenspan surprised many people in making specific statements on the currency markets, warning against reliance on predictions of their movements.</br></br>"A considerable volume of market commentary in recent weeks has suggested that concerns about earnings prospects and the proliferating revelations of serious governance and accounting issues have contributed not only to lower equity prices but also to a decline in the foreign-exchange value of the dollar," Mr. Greenspan said.</br></br>"But, given the recent intense interest in the future course of the dollar, I would like to raise a technical issue and a flag of caution regarding those forecasts -- or for that matter, any forecast of exchange rates" he added.</br></br>Currency experts interpreted those remarks as an effort to provide a sense of calm to what has been a nervous market.