The ICE US Dollar Index is trading back under the 80 mark this afternoon as the euro made gains over most major currencies, whilst EU ministers gather in Brussels to discuss a Greek debt swap, budget rules and a financial firewall to protect indebted nations.

Latest Dollar Index Rate

The ICE US Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against six major world currencies was trading near 79.835 at 15.25 GMT today, from the session open of 80.406.

Euro Decline Against the Dollar

The euro has weakened 3.7 percent in the past six months, whilst the Japanse yen rose 7.7 percent and the US dollar strengthened 7 percent.

Futures traders last week raised bets to a record that the euro will decline against the US dollar. The difference between wagers that the shared currency will fall versus those that it will rise, so called net shorts, surged to 160,030 in the week ended January 17, according to data from the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

“The euro remains a very vulnerable currency. There is still an awful lot to be done in Greece. Politically, nothing has changed since last year, and there’s still a lot of pain to come. I am still quite wary about this upside we’ve seen in the euro.” said Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International, London.

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