On Friday, March 28, 2008, the Japanese Yen continue to strengthen against the U.S. Dollar because investors are concerned that the liquidity crisis in the U.S. financial market will not be over soon. Consequently, U.S. stocks, especially the financial shares, fell and the U.S. dollar dropped by 0.4% to 99.11 yen. According to analysts, U.S. financial institutions such as Citigroup, Wachovia and several others may cut dividends in April, because they will not be able to meet scheduled pay-outs from current earnings.
It is unlikely that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates any time soon, given the unexpected increase in the German Consumer Price Index. On
Friday, March 28, 2008, the Euro traded at $1.5800 in New York, close to last week’s historic high of $1.5904. While some investors have sold the Euro for profit, analysts are of the opinion that investors will not aggressively sell the Euro before the release of next week’s data on non-farm payroll and the Federal Reserve Chairman’s Report to Congress. The Euro has gained about 8%, since the beginning of the year.
