Dollar Doldrums? What Dollar Doldrums?

Ever since Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's comments Monday about the status of the American dollar, we've been looking for more signs about how U.S. monetary policy officials think the greenback is doing. Today, we got some clues and they amounted to a fiscal version of the Bobby McFerrin tune, "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

"There's no particular reason you wouldn't expect the dollar to go back to where it was before the panic set in -- that is essentially all it has done at this point. I don't view that as anything particularly of concern," Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said in response to a question after a speech in Singapore, according to Reuters.

In an interview with Market News International, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said the Fed is taking the dollar's lows into consideration as it makes policy. But he didn't overstate its importance. "On the other hand, in terms of its inflationary input, unless it becomes disorderly, a depreciating dollar -- a gradually depreciating dollar -- doesn't necessarily add an enormous inflation impulse," he said.

The dollar hit a 15-month low against other major currencies on Monday, the same day Bernanke talked about how the Fed was trying to help the dollar's strength by focusing on price stability and jobs growth.