Euro Continues Surge Against U.S. Dollar

BERLIN – The U.S. dollar plunged to a new low against the euro Thursday, which hit US$1.3068 in morning trading over nagging concerns about high oil prices and the U.S. trade and budget deficits.

The euro broke the record it set on Wednesday of US$1.3047 in a continued surge that has taken it from about US$1.20 two months ago.

The speed of the increase in value has begun to worry European leaders that it might damage the euro zone’s export-led recovery by making its products more expensive overseas.

The spike prompted European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to call the surge “brutal” last week in an attempt to talk down the strength of the euro.

Economists see little prospect of intervention by the United States, where the Bush administration has professed a “strong dollar” policy but has also said it was content to let market forces take care of setting the dollar’s strength.