Those Goofy Currency Markets

The Treasury Department is getting in a name calling contest with the currency market. Hmm. Maybe the U.S. government is getting a little testy about what currency traders are doing to the dollar. "Yes, of course we want a weaker dollar. Just not that much weaker..." Here is what CBSmarketwatch is reporting this afternoon: "Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols declined to comment on the dollar's decline to a three-year low against the yen and a three-month low against the euro. 'We are not going to respond to every goofy market rumor on currencies,' Nichols told reporters when asked if the Bush administration had changed its dollar policy. 'Of course, there is no change in policy,' Nichols added. The U.S. dollar hit a three-year low against the yen Monday as currency traders continued to test Japanese officials who would prefer a weaker yen in order to support their export market. That decline helped push the dollar to a three-month euro low. Currency market analysts said it was mostly rumor and technical chart triggers that fed the dollar's latest slide."