NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury did not intervene in foreign exchange markets during the January – March 2021 quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said today in its quarterly report to the U.S. Congress.
The U.S. dollar, as measured by the Federal Reserve Board's broad trade-weighted dollar index, appreciated 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The appreciation was driven primarily by upward revisions to the U.S. growth outlook due to market expectations for renewed large U.S. fiscal stimulus, coupled with progress on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Dollar appreciation was broad-based, occurring against both emerging and advanced economy currencies. The U.S. dollar appreciated 7.2 percent against the Japanese yen, 4.1 percent against the euro, and 2.6 percent against the Mexican peso, though it depreciated 1.3 percent against the Canadian dollar and 0.9 percent against the British pound.
The report was presented by Lorie Logan, 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.
