Currency | featured news

Europe’s debt crisis is going from bad to worse. The borrowing rates for troubled--and even not-so-troubled--European governments once again soared Friday, heightening the danger of an all-out collapse in Europe’s common currency. It comes as political leaders across the continent are all pointing to each other as needing to act to avert a worse outcome.

A proposal to phase out the $1 bill and replace it with a $1 coin could be gaining currency as the "supercommittee" looks to find ways to save the government money... The move to a coin would cost money in the short term, but eventually save money because paper currency lasts about 42 months — while coins theoretically last forever. Moving to a coin could save $5.6 billion over 30 years, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The Senate on Tuesday approved a bill aimed at pushing China to let its yuan currency rise in value in the hope of saving American jobs, sending it to the House of Representatives where its fate is uncertain.

U.S. legislation to press China to revalue its currency narrowly cleared a Senate procedural vote before a formal vote later on Thursday but it faced stronger opposition in the House of Representatives.

Every six months, the Treasury issues a report declaring that China’s currency is undervalued, draining dollars and jobs out of the U.S. economy. And every six months, the Treasury defers action, saying the Beijing government is not manipulating its currency. But with the prolonged slump in jobs, pressure is mounting among American politicians — as well as those in Europe, Brazil and emerging markets — to challenge China, even if that means imposing import tariffs to protect domestic industries and jobs.

A dollar plumbing three-year lows is hitting Americans squarely in the gas tank, and one economist thinks it could drive prices as high as $6 a gallon or more by summertime under the right conditions.

The yen's fall to its lowest level against the dollar and the euro in months is the latest sign that a coordinated post-earthquake intervention is working.

A new iPhone application is designed to help blind people identify United States currency in real time by speaking the denomination aloud.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao urged an end to a "zero sum" Cold War relationship with the United States and proposed new cooperation, but resisted U.S. arguments about why China should let its currency strengthen.

China's yuan currency remains "substantially undervalued" and it is in Beijing's own interest to let it appreciate more rapidly to ward off inflation risks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.