The dollar rose on Monday against major currencies touching an 11-year peak. The Euro, which has been in an extended slump, had been up by as much as a third of a percent against the dollar but surrendered gains and traded near unchanged at just under $1.12.
The Argentine Central Bank received this week the second part of a multi-billion dollar currency swap with China’s Central Bank, worth the equivalent of 508 million dollars. The swap allowed Argentina to bolster its foreign reserves, which rose 506 million and closed at 28.785 billion dollars.
The US dollar reached a new record high on Thursday as purchase pressure on the so called “blue” or informal market continues pushing the price which closed 35 cents up at 11.50 pesos for buyers and 11.55 pesos for sellers.
The International Monetary Fund, IMF, praised Venezuela for the recent devaluation of its currency saying it is a positive attempt to reduce macroeconomic misbalances but also called on the government of President Hugo Chavez to continue eliminating the exchange rate distortions.
The US Federal Reserve has said it plans to keep interest rates at close to zero at least until the US unemployment rate falls below 6.5%. The Fed previously had a date-driven target, rather than a data-driven one.
Having a floor of 1.80 Real to the US dollar is no great thing, but it is a target to sustain said Brazil Development, Industry and Foreign Trade minister Fernando Pimentel referring to the latest announcements to promote Brazilian industry battered by a strong currency and massive inflow of ‘cheap’ imports.
Brazilian bank economists cut the country’s growth estimate for this year to below 3%, (2.97%) according to a last week survey by the Central bank of over one hundred institutions and which was released Monday.
Global stocks and the Euro rallied on Wednesday after the world's leading central banks agreed to cut the cost for European banks to borrow much-needed dollars.
Major central banks around the world will cooperate to offer three-month US dollar loans to commercial banks in order to prevent money markets from freezing up because of Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
Brazil has no plans to sell US Treasuries or change its foreign currency reserves holdings as a result of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US’s credit rating, a government official said.