Treasury and Federal Reserve Foreign Exchange Operations

During the third quarter of 2001, the dollar depreciated 7.3 percent against the euro and 4.1 percent against the yen. On a trade-weighted basis, the dollar ended the quarter 2.6 percent lower. Economic data released even before the terrorist attacks on September 11 suggested that the U.S. economic slowdown would likely be more protracted than previously expected, which generally weighed on the dollar. The attacks heightened pre-existing concerns about the weakness of the U.S. economy and lent further momentum to the general trends that prevailed earlier in the quarter. The U.S. monetary authorities did not intervene in the foreign exchange markets during the quarter.