Low inflation and declining consumer confidence prompt expectations of further quantitative easing, forcing US dollar down on currency markets The US dollar fell below parity against its Australian equivalent for the first time today as a clear signal from the US Federal Reserve of new action to boost the American economy prompted a blanket sell-off in the greenback, although it later regained lost ground. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed, triggered the decline in the US dollar when he used a speech in Boston to say that more quantitative easing – the electronic creation of money – was justified by high unemployment and low inflation. Wall Street took Bernanke’s remarks as evidence that the Fed will restart its QE programme at its meeting early next month, giving the American currency a final push down through the A$1 level.