American focus: euro touched its lowest level since July 2010

The euro touched its lowest level since July 2010 against the dollar amid concern Spain’s regional governments may lose access to capital markets. The shared currency erased earlier gains against the dollar and yen after Catalan President Artur Mas repeated his call for Spanish central government to help regions access funding and remained lower after Standard & Poor’s cut the credit ratings of five Spanish banks.

Catalonia is complying “strictly” with its budget program and will honor its commitments, according to a statement. Spain’s government is analyzing “with all caution” requests from regional governments to help them regain access to capital markets, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.

Spanish 10-year yields rose 15 basis points, or 0.15 percentage point, to 6.31 percent. They touched 6.51 percent on May 16, the highest since November.

The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six U.S. trading partners, was little changed at 82.352, after climbing as high as 82.461, the most since September 2010.