American focus: dollar down

The dollar fell against the yen after the Federal Reserve announced a third round of asset purchases to support the economy and to reduce the rate of the U.S. currency.

The dollar fell against most major currencies, as the Fed announced that the Fed will buy agency mortgage-backed securities by another $ 40 billion a month

The yen reached a seven-month high against the dollar, prompting speculation that Japanese policymakers may consider the possibility of market intervention to lower the exchange rate.

The Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement that if the prospects in the labor market will not improve significantly, the committee will continue its purchases of mortgage-backed securities and to make additional purchases of assets and use its other tools as necessary.

FOMC said that, most likely, will keep rates near zero until at least mid-2015.

Bernanke said Aug. 31 in a speech in Jackson Hole that the Fed study showed that the large-scale asset purchases may have increased the level of economic output by 3% and caused a rise in employment in the private sector are more than 2 million jobs. He also said that the labor market is a "major concern."

Two rounds of Fed bond purchases totaling $ 2.3 trillion failed to breathe life into the labor market. Unemployment has been stuck above 8% for 43 consecutive months, while the U.S. economy grew by less than 2% in the second quarter.

The central bank is also in the process of replacing the short-term to long-term bonds in order to put downward pressure on long-term borrowing costs.