NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury did not intervene in the foreign exchange markets during the January – March 2018 quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said today in its quarterly report to the U.S. Congress.
In the first quarter of 2018, the U.S. dollar, as measured by the Federal Reserve Board’s trade-weighted major currencies index, depreciated 1.4 percent. The dollar was viewed as driven by a variety of factors, including the greater scope for monetary tightening abroad, improving global growth, and an anticipated rise of U.S. fiscal and current account deficits. Among major currencies, the dollar depreciated 2.6 percent against the euro and 5.7 percent against the Japanese yen, and appreciated 2.6 percent against the Canadian dollar. The dollar depreciated against most emerging market currencies, including 7.5 percent against the Mexican peso and 3.6 percent against the Chinese renminbi.
The report was presented by Simon Potter, executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Federal Open Market Committee’s manager for the System Open Market Account, on behalf of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System.
The full report is available on the New York Fed’s website.
