BRETTON WOODS AGREEMENT OF 1944
An agreement that established fixed-rate trading bands for the world's major foreign currencies. The agreement also provided for central bank currency market intervention and tied the price of the U.S. dollar to gold at $35 per ounce. The agreement collapsed in 1971, when President Nixon devalued the dollar and allowed the major currencies to " float" on the world market. Chicago Mercantile Exchange Glossary