Dollar Overcomes Brief Sell-Off

The dollar rallied to close mostly higher Wednesday after overcoming a brief but sharp sell-off on word that the budget talks in Washington had broken down.

Traders attributed the dollar’s resilience to expectations of lower European interest rates that undermined the German mark and weak British economic statistics that hurt the pound.

By 4 p.m. EST in New York, the dollar bought 1.4715 German marks, up from 1.4638 Tuesday. The dollar ended slightly lower against the yen to 105.42 from 105.82 Tuesday.

Exchange Currency in Dollars Dollar in foreign currency

Canada .7329 1.3645

France .1989 5.0273

Germany .6796 1.4715

Great Britain 1.5205 .6577

Italy .000631 1584.75

Japan .009486 105.42

Mexico .134048 7.4600