Dollar rises against yen, euro driven up by concerns over Japans weak econ

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NEW YORK — The dollar rose Wednesday against the Japanese yen and the euro, driven up sharply amid concerns about possible intervention by Japanese financial authorities after the government released weak economic growth data.

In midday trading in New York, the dollar was quoted at 104.70 yen, up from 102.84 late Tuesday.

The Japanese government announced that its economy grew 0.2 percent on an annual basis in the July-September period from the previous quarter, down from the preliminary figure of 0.3 percent, reinforcing recent signs that Japan's recovery may be stalling.
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Traders are squaring up on short dollar positions as they weigh the possibility of a coordinated intervention by Japanese and European officials, said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York. A short dollar position represents a bet the currency will fall.
http://ap.lubbockonline.com/pstories/business/20041208/2640984.shtml

Is this just basically saying our economy may suck, but it sucks less than Japan's economy? Of course, a lot of Japan's economy is tied to ours...

[juliagoolia]

1. Japan wants the Yen to stay lower than the dollar to keep

us buying japanese cars.

American Automakers do not want them to inflate the YEN so that American Cars will sell.

I personally want everyone to ride bikes:) Actually what ever happened to buying cars with the best gas mileage?>

[high density]

2. Gas mileage?

I think those yellow ribbon magnets must give SUVs an extra 15mpg or something.

[flygal]

3. LOL - you'd think so!

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Japan wants the yen to stay relatively low

because they've been screwed over by yo-yoing yen-dollar exchange rates lots of times already and they've had enough of it.

[FloridaPat]

4. The dollar is being dumped all ove the place. People are really

pissed at bush.

[thecrow]

5. One USD = 1.32520 Euro ...I just checked

So the dollar rising above the yen isn't that significant