European Central Bank intervenes to boost euro for fourth time in a week 10.25 a.m. ET (1540 GMT) November 9, 2000 By Hans Greimel, Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) B Europe's top central bankers waded into money markets again Thursday for the fourth time in less than a week in another solo attempt to support the euro.

The European Central Bank, together with the central banks from its member countries, stepped in Thursday afternoon as the euro was trading below 85.5 cents.

They bought their common currency, sending it above 86 cents. Like last week, the ECB said it was acting alone, without the help of Japan or the United States.

Two interventions last Friday and another on Monday bolstered the beleaguered currency only momentarily before the euro continued its decline which has left the euro about 25 percent below its level at launch in January 1999.

Wild swings in the euro's value had largely tapered off in the last two days as money traders waited for a result in the U.S. presidential election. A recount of votes in Florida is underway.

Economists have said the ECB, which manages monetary policy in the 11 European Union countries using the common currency, might have to stage repeated interventions to show currency markets it is serious about defending the euro's value.

The exchange rate has repeatedly been torpedoed by weak economic data that cast doubt on whether Europe is as safe an investment as the United States.

The euro's retreat last Friday was fueled by the release of U.S. economic figures that showed better-than-expected unemployment figures and an increase in U.S. factory orders, two factors renewing investor confidence in the U.S. economy.

And the euro's exchange rate tanked after Tuesday's intervention when German industrial order data showed a greater-than-expected decrease of 5 percent in September and suggested Europe's biggest economy was headed for a slowdown.

The anemic euro is becoming a big problem in Europe because it makes imports more expensive. That could eventually spill over into higher price tags at the corner store for the region's 291 million people.

Inflation in the region peaked at a six-year high of 2.8 percent in September, well above the ECB's target of 2 percent. And ECB President Wim Duisenberg said last week it will take longer than the expected three to four months for inflation to fall back to the 2 percent level.

Economists have criticized the ECB's solo shots at intervention, saying that leaving out other central banks pares down the number of euros that can be traded and robs the intervention of extra firepower.

Speaking Tuesday in Brussels, Belgium, French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius backed the ECB's recent interventions, saying a stronger euro is "both in the interests of Europe and the world economy.''

Fabius said the interventions "should be judged over a longer period of time'' and not just the short term.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 09, 2000