Bank Intervention Boosts Dollar’s Value

The United States and Japan, this time joined by Germany, pushed the value of the dollar to its highest level in nearly six months with a dollar-buying spree Tuesday that caught markets by surprise.

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said the U.S. dollar-buying was done “in cooperation with the German and Japanese authorities.”

The dollar-buying, which was also supported by the central bank of Switzerland, helped to push the U.S. currency initially to its highest levels in nearly six months against both the Japanese yen and the German mark.