Dollar gyrates as European, Asian stocks fall
Without naming Mnuchin, Draghi indicated the wording ran counter to the commitment reflected in the International Monetary Fund statement from October, to "refrain from competitive devaluations, and... not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes."
Trump's remarks were not reported until late afternoon US time, after stock markets in Europe and Asia had already closed.
Amid the uproar on foreign exchange markets, the rising euro had pushed the main blue-chip indices into the red, despite positive data out of the region's economic powerhouse, Germany.
London's FTSE closed 0.4 percent lower, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.9 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.3 percent.
The pattern was similar in Tokyo, where the Nikkei slid 1.1 percent against a spiking yen.
Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities, said in a commentary that exchange rates have been affected frequently by political factors including Trump's comments.
And "if US President Trump makes comments criticizing a cheaper yen, the yen's depreciation may halt," Kubota said.
- Wall Street records -
Meanwhile, in the US, the Dow and S&P 500 pushed to records, while the Nasdaq retreated as market insiders debated whether the rally is losing steam.
Generally positive outlooks from companies have extended the Wall Street rally begun in the wake the US tax cuts passed in December, enabling more records as earnings season has accelerated.
But some question whether the market can go much higher.
"New highs are always welcome, but there is a growing chorus among strategists and technicians stating that the stock market might be getting a little bit ahead of itself," said Gorilla Trades market strategist Ken Berman.
