NEW YORK, United States?The US dollar surged against the euro Wednesday as investors sought the safe-haven greenback on concerns over a potential global slowdown stemming from problems in the US and China.

The euro tumbled below the sensitive 1.3000-dollar level to 1.2868 dollars in New York at about 2100 GMT, well below the 1.3177 dollars fetched late Tuesday. The single European unit fell as low as 1.2864 dollars.

The dollar was steady at 85.34 yen from 85.38 yen on Tuesday after slumping to a 15-year low against the Japanese currency, also a safe haven unit, in early Wednesday trading.

The greenback fell as low as 84.73 yen, its lowest level since July 5, 1995, as Tokyo worried about the adverse affects of the rising Japanese currency on the world's second largest economy.

Investors fled to the safety of the dollar and the yen after the US Federal Reserve warned that the US economic recovery was slowing while the Bank of England lowered its forecast for economic growth this year.

Adding to their concerns was slowing industrial growth amid rising inflation in China as well as less-than-expected expansion of Japanese machinery orders.

"Even though the latest concerns about growth have stemmed from the US, the dollar rose against every major currency except for the Japanese yen," said analyst Kathy Lien at Global Forex Trading.

"The problem is that what is bad for the US and China will be bad for the rest of the world. This sentiment is very temperamental which means that investors can turn on the dollar just as quickly if confronted with a piece of very bearish US data," she said.

The market?s focus has shifted temporarily away from European fundamentals and to the US economic and monetary policy backdrop, said Scotia Capital analyst Camilla Sutton.

"However there are still ongoing signs that there are significant unresolved pressures in Europe," she said.

The Federal Reserve's policy-making body decided Tuesday on more stimulus spending to help prop up an economic recovery that it said had slowed in recent months.

Maintaining interest rates at historic lows in the face of slow growth and high joblessness, members of the Federal Open Market Committee vowed to renew crisis-era investments that would pump cash into the economy.

FOMC members said proceeds from the central bank's maturing mortgage-bond portfolio would be used to buy long-term Treasury securities, essentially resuming crisis-era spending.

Against other key currencies, the dollar rose to 1.0591 Swiss francs from 1.0484 Tuesday while the British pound slipped to $1.5663 from $1,5849.