Euro Falls as WSJ Reports Swiss Say Neative Rates an Option

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) — The euro weakened versus the dollar and gained against the franc after the Wall Street Journal reported that negative interest rates remain an option for the Swiss National Bank.

“We’re never shy about it. We always said we would use it if needed,” Thomas Moser, an alternate member of SNB policy- setting governing board said at a conference, the newspaper reported.

“It seemed to be in reaction to the SNB headline from central banker Moser that the SNB would be open to negative rates to defend the currency floor,” Brad Bechtel, managing director of Faros Trading LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a phone interview. “That leads to dollar-Swiss franc higher, translating into euro-dollar lower.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Wong in New York at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at [e-mail]