The average American seems unclear what the euro is all about and New York's foreign exchange bureaus are far from consistent with their rates, but the media gave its arrival the thumbs up, albeit with a touch of caution,  writes Conor O'Clery, International Business Editor, on Wall Street

"The euro? It's a chocolate bar, right? Hey! Only kidding! I know what it is. It's the new English dollar, isn't that correct?" One could hardly say that the man or woman in the street in New York's financial district - other than the dealers with briefcases - were exactly sure when asked yesterday what the euro was but most passers-by had a better idea than the hotdog vendor quoted above.

Not that the media in the US has done much to educate Americans - 80 per cent of whom do not possess a passport and have no intention of ever travelling to the euro zone - about the physical launch of the new 12-nation currency and what its implications might be.

A more typical response came from a clothing retailer on Broadway. "It's a new money for the European countries, I guess," he said. He added, however: "Don't ask me what countries."

At least the staff in the foreign exchange bureaus in New York know about the new euro notes and are already taking euros for US dollars. "We got a load in on January 2nd and we've been selling a lot to travellers going to Europe," said an official at American Express.

But European visitors to the US looking to exchange the new euro notes for dollars should shop around. The rate at street exchange bureaus varied wildly yesterday.

The People's Foreign Exchange at 204 Broadway was offering $0.87 to the euro yesterday, plus a $2 fee - the absolutely best value I could find in Manhattan. The New York Foreign Exchange bureau at 61 Broadway offered $0.86, with no fee, almost as good a rate.

However American Express at 374 Park Avenue gave only $0.84 to the euro, Thomas Cook Currency Services at 42nd and Madison offered only $0.82 with a $5 minimum fee, and Avis Currency Exchange at 899 Avenue was doing transactions that worked out at a mere $0.81 to the euro.

For the record, the official exchange rate at close of business in New York on Wednesday was just over $0.90 to the euro.

The US media generally gave a thumbs up to the euro launch. "IT'S EURO-PHORIA!" said the headline in the New York Post, over a story which began: "The euro debuted as a new powerhouse currency by steamrolling over the world's major currencies - making England look stupid for not joining the euro bandwagon." Newsday in New York gave prominence to the first euro bank robberies in the Republic and the computer breakdown in Austria, but headlined its story: "Euro doing big business; despite snags new currency makes gains in world markets".

The Los Angeles Times heralded its euro story with the message: "Smooth debut boosts euro on world markets; Continent shrugs off conversion bugs as new currency begins circulating. First robberies are reported."

The Christian Science Monitor said the new money was hailed as a "a great day" for Europe and went on: "For the first time since the Roman denarius was accepted all over Europe 2000 years ago, the continent has a common currency, legal tender from the Arctic to the Mediterranean."

A cautionary note was struck by the New York Times, which made the euro launch its lead story under the heading "A smooth debut lifts euro's value in money markets". It emphasised in a sub heading: "But analysts say slow growth in Europe could reverse the currency bounce."

The Wall Street Journal echoed this warning, proclaiming that the "Euro's second honeymoon starts well but traders warn euphoria could fade." It quoted Shahab Jalinoos, a currency strategist at UBS Warburg, as saying: "At the moment people are focused on the sheer fact that European policy makers have brought the euro project to a conclusion without a crisis but the cold reality of a weak European economy could come back to haunt euro bulls."

Indeed, the euro dipped against the dollar yesterday as investors worried that the market's embrace of the physical currency might turn out to be a brief flirtation brought on by the euphoria of a relatively trouble-free coming out.

"Things went very well for the conversion but I don't think it is anything more than a honeymoon for the euro," said Ben Strauss, vice-president and trader at Bank Julius Baer in New York.

The dollar could be strengthened by the stronger-than-expected report on Wednesday that indicated the US manufacturing sector could soon escape from a slump dating back to 2000, pointing to a recovery early this year.