Monday, March 2, 2009

Euro Lower on Failure of Eastern Europe Bailout Package

From Bloomberg:

The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar after European Union leaders rejected calls to back an aid package for eastern Europe, fueling concern the financial crisis will deepen the region’s recession.

Europe’s single currency dropped for a second day versus the greenback as EU leaders vetoed Hungary’s proposals for 180 billion euros ($227 billion) of loans to ex-communist economies in eastern Europe. The Polish zloty, Hungarian forint and Czech koruna slipped to the lowest in about a week against the dollar. The Swedish krona fell to a record versus the euro.

“We have to prepare for autonomous weakness of the euro this week,” said Hans-Guenter Redeker, the London-based chief currency strategist for BNP Paribas SA. “This shows European countries are behind the curve. They are acting against a global crisis with national measures.”

Here is the full story.