Submitted by Fox First at Ten on October 24th
NEW YORK (AP) - The dollar traded in tight ranges against the euro Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said the economy is improving only moderately and still needs its support to help lower unemployment.
The Fed took no new action after its two-day policy meeting ended on Wednesday. The Fed said it will wait to see whether aggressive steps launched in September will help boost growth and job creation.
The euro slipped to $1.2973 in late trading Wednesday from $1.2976 late Tuesday.
A pair of weak economic reports from Europe also weighed on the euro.
A closely watched survey by the Ifo institute says that business confidence in Germany fell to 100 in October from 101.4 in September. Economists expected an increase to 101.6.
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, says that the total debt of the 17 countries that use the single currency at the end of the second quarter was worth 90 percent of the value of the group's economy. That's the highest level since the euro was launched in 1999.
In other trading, the British pound rose to $1.6036 from $1.5942.
The dollar rose to 99.40 Canadian cents from 99.27 Canadian cents.
The dollar fell to 79.78 Japanese yen from 79.91 Japanese yen and to 0.9325 Swiss franc and to 0.9332 Swiss franc.
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