The euro reached a record-high quotation of 1.3068 dollars, or 76.53 euro-cents per dollar, in early trading Thursday in Europe amid U.S. signals that it is not going to intervene to halt the dollar's slide. The quotation was well up on the record-high reference pegging of 1.3026 dollars set Wednesday by the European Central Bank. The dollar's slide came as markets reacted to remarks by U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow who commented in London that previous "efforts to impose non-market valuations on currencies is at best unrewarding and checkered". The comment came in response to a question of whether he would back a deal with European countries to intervene on behalf of the dollar when the G-20 finance ministers meet at the weekend in Berlin.
