Even with hints that an interim resolution may be possible for Greece, the dollar is still up. Today a euro costs $1.11.

This hurts the way profits of U.S.-based multinational companies are booked. When the U.S. dollar is strong, American companies doing business overseas often show their profits hurting in their quarterly reports. 

So why does a high dollar seem to make corporations look better according to another key measure that investors love to watch?

Here to resolve the paradox is a man who knows his way around a balance sheet, Washington Post columnist Allan Sloan.

Click the media player above to hear Allan Sloan in conversation with Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio.