The strength of the dollar was related mainly to the exceptionally high and sustained growth in the United States, which encouraged long-term investments from Europe and Japan to flow into America. The recent sharp depreciation of the euro against the dollar led to a coordinated intervention by central banks in the United States, Britain, Europe and Japan to support Europe’s ailing currency.
It has been estimated that the central banks of these countries spent about $ 3 billion to $ 5 billion to buy euros in the last week of September. As a result the euro’s value against the dollar promptly rose from below 85 cents to around 90 cents.