US Treasury Secretary John Snow has given the dollar a boost after he said that US interest rates could rise soon. In an interview with the Times of London, Snow said he would be "frustrated and concerned" if US interest rates didn't start rising given the U.S. economy's recent recovery. He also said that Washington's currency policy had been misunderstood by many commentators, an apparent reference to widespread views that the US administration welcomes a weaker currency.
"Investor nerves are likely to be a little frayed this morning given the reported comments of US Treasury Secretary Snow," said Colin Hunt at Goodbody Stockbrokers. "Coming in the wake of chat about higher rates from Fed officials, Mr Snow has reminded us that the turn in the interest rate cycle will be in an upward direction." The dollar rose against the euro and the yen following the comments, pushing the single currency down to USD1.1667 from USD1.1700. It climbed to 109.50 yen from below 108 on Friday. The dollar buying had earlier pushed the euro as low as USD1.1620, but the USD1.16 level was held as Snow was stating what Hunt described as the "bleeding obvious".//www.fxcentre.com