The euro fell against all of its most-traded counterparts after Der Spiegel magazine reported that debt-strapped Greece may stop using the currency.
The European currency reached a two-week low against the dollar after the magazine said Greece is considering reintroducing its own currency and that the European Commission called a meeting to discuss the move. A spokesman for Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads euro-region finance ministers, denied the report.
“It does bring to the forefront the existential concerns about the euro,” said Samarjit Shankar, a managing director for the foreign-exchange group in Boston at Bank of New York Mellon, the world’s largest custodial bank, with more than $20 trillion in assets under administration. “If in the next few weeks and months there is more news flow about a possible exit by one or more countries from the European monetary union, then undoubtedly it will be a negative for the currency because it strikes at the root of its existence.”