Euro in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.83 within two years (26 October 2000), it has traded above the U.S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008. In late 2009, the
Euro Currency Index Euro Currency Index (ECX, also EURX or EXY) was launched on 13 January 2006 by the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) and calculated back to 2001. In 2007, the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) based in Atlanta (USA) changed the name of the stock exchange in IntercontinentalExchange The index was a ratio that compared the value of the Euro by a currency basket of five currencies: US-Dollar (31.55 percent), British Pound (30.56 percent), Japanese Yen (18.91 percent), Swiss Franc (11.13 percent) and Swedish Krona (7.85 percent). The ECX was the geometrically weighted average compared to these currencies. The formula for the calculation