- Fed cuts rates to near zero percent
- Fed, 5 other central banks cut rates on dollar swap lines
(Adds new comment, FX table, byline, details about the Fed and central bank moves,)
The dollar fell late on Sunday after the Federal Reserve unleashed a series of moves to stem the global fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, led by a cut in U.S. interest rates to zero percent, the second rate cut in less than two weeks.
In a statement, the Fed said it reduced the federal funds rate to a target range of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed, along with five other major foreign central banks, also cut pricing on their swap lines to make it easier to provide dollars to their financial institutions facing stress in credit markets. The U.S. central bank also said it would expand its balance sheet by at least $700 billion in coming weeks
The Fed, the Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan and Swiss National Bank set up swap lines in the financial crisis.
"Clearly the Fed feels that what the governments are doing are inadequate and not enough. So they're throwing everything they can at this situation," said Juan Perez, senior currency trader at Tempus Inc. In Washington.
"But it's going to be really volatile when markets open. The dollar will swing wildly. We'll just have to see."
In late Sunday trading, the dollar fell 1.2% against the yen to 106.71 yen JPY=EBS , while the euro rose 0.7% to $1.1190 EUR= .
Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was down 0.6% to 0.9447 franc CHF= . The overall dollar index was down 0.7% at 97.733 =USD .
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 5:45PM (2145 GMT)Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1186 $1.1105 +0.73% -0.21% +1.1195 +1.1047 Dollar/Yen JPY= 106.7200 107.9100 -1.10% -1.97% +107.9100 +106.6000 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 119.48 119.91 -0.36% -2.03% +119.6800 +118.4500 Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9449 0.9496 -0.49% -2.37% +0.9544 +0.9445 Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2412 1.2276 +1.11% -6.39% +1.2418 +1.2255 Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3758 1.3803 -0.33% +5.94% +1.3899 +1.3751 Australian/Doll AUD= 0.6247 0.6182 +1.05% -11.04% +0.6303 +0.6122 arEuro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0573 1.0559 +0.13% -2.57% +1.0594 +1.0561 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.9008 0.9045 -0.41% +6.55% +0.9062 +0.9014 NZ NZD= 0.6110 0.6057 +0.88% -9.29% +0.6153 +0.5945 Dollar/DollarDollar/Norway NOK= 10.0562 9.9961 +0.60% +14.56% +10.2897 +10.0513 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 11.2480 11.1250 +1.11% +14.33% +11.3298 +11.1287 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 9.6538 9.7081 +0.32% +3.28% +9.7819 +9.6522 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.8185 10.7840 +0.32% +3.34% +10.8235 +10.8070
