Euro slips amid eurozone rescue questions

NEW YORK—The euro slipped against the dollar Monday after last week’s rebound as the weekend G20 finance chiefs meeting gave few hints that a comprehensive plan to end eurozone instability was nigh.

The euro surged to above the $1.39 level in early trade but dropped back to $1.3734 at 2100 GMT, down from $1.3881 late Friday.

The turn downward came after Germany sought to dampen expectations for next Sunday’s European Union summit in Brussels. Government spokesman Stefan Seibert warned that “dreams that everything will be resolved and dealt with by next Monday cannot be fulfilled.”

Meanwhile Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that decisions would be part of “important measures to be taken over the long term, and this long term is likely to last into next year.”

Those were taken by markets as suggesting that the turbulence and worries over whether Greece’s debt problem can be corralled would not ease soon.

“Some people are positioning themselves in case European leaders struggle to meet the deadline in curbing the debt problems,” said Simon Denham of Capital Spreads.

The yen gained, trading to 105.51 yen against the euro (107.17 on Friday) and 76.82 yen to the dollar (77.21).

The dollar rose to 0.8992 Swiss francs (0.8919 francs), while the British pound climbed to $1.5739 ($1.5832).