NEW YORK - The US dollar declined against the euro for the 10th week in 11 on speculation the European Central Bank will not halt the currency's slide.
The US currency is heading for its third straight annual drop against the euro and the yen amid swelling budget and tradedeficits.
French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard on December 23 became the latest European official to decry the euro's strength, saying, "without any coordination, we can imagine a catastrophic situation".
During a visit to Strasbourg, Gaymard said that the G-7 nations should discuss coordination to manage the dollar's decline.
Simon Derrick, head of currency strategy in London at Bank of New York, said European and Japanese officials were "going to try and place pressure on the US to act as part of a G-7 coordinated intervention to try to stop the dollar's slide".
"I don't think that's going to occur."
He predicted the dollar would fall to US$1.40 per euro in January.
A senior currency strategist at Westpac in Sydney, Robert Rennie, said:
"There's little the US wants to do about it."
He said the dollar could fall to US$1.40 per euro and below 100 yen in the first quarter of next year.
In early December, US Treasury Secretary John Snow said he had "deep respect for the way markets perform", suggesting he will not accede to calls for action when G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in February in London.
