MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US dollar regaining ground

The Euro dropped Thursday below the 1,32 US dollars benchmark experiencing a 2,75% depreciation against the US currency in the six first days of 2005.

Last December 30 the Euro marked an all time record of 1,3670 US dollars.

Market analysts are expecting this Friday the release by the US Labour Department of employment figures, which apparently could be encouraging.

Tomorrow's expectations and the recently released minutes of the latest Federal Reserve Open Market meeting are influencing the strengthening of the US dollar in European money markets.

In the minutes the Federal Reserve confirms its intention of following a restrictive monetary policy to contain future inflationary pressures which simply means higher interest rates.

During 2004 the Federal Reserve increased rates five times taking them to 2,25%, and is forecasted to add another 25 points in its next February meeting, while the European Central Bank has kept them unchanged since June 2003 at 2%