US authorities desperate to support the dollar
Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, has this evening thrown his support behind the US currency in a rare vote of confidence from the Federal Reserve. The US government appears desperate to support the greenback which has now fallen to a 15 month low on the currency exchanges and is under constant pressure. While would expect the Federal Reserve to comment upon the currency at regular intervals, this is actually the domain of the Treasury department under normal circumstances.
It seems as though a prolonged period of low interest rates in the US has seen many investors take flight to more "risky" investments as they look for improved investment returns and potential for the future. The fact that the US base rate looks likely to remain low for some time does not bode well for the US currency and the government seems to have eventually caught on to this.
Many people are looking to the US economy to pull the worldwide economy out of the economic slump and if there is any pressure in the US markets which reduces economic activity in the short term then we could all be in trouble. The US authorities have spent massive amounts of money trying to support the economy and his big gamble needs to pay off in the short term.
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