German Warning Halts Dollar’s Rise

The dollar hit its second straight six-year high against the mark Tuesday and rose to the best level vs. the yen in a month, but retreated to end mixed after Germany’s finance minister called the U.S. currency’s strength excessive.

The comments from Finance Minister Theo Waigel were surprisingly blunt and suggested the possibility of coordinated intervention by leading central banks to cap the dollar’s advance, which has accelerated on growing doubts about the credibility of the single euro currency.

Speaking in Berlin and later in the southern German town of Dillingen, Waigel said the rise in both the dollar and the British pound vs. the mark in recent weeks reflected an “overreaction of markets.”

Exchange Currency in Dollars Dollar in foreign currency Canada .7296 1.3706 France .1653 6.0481 Germany .5580 1.7920 Great Britain 1.6779 .5960 Italy .000574 1742.00 Japan .008656 115.53 Mexico .126263 7.9200