Currency field not formatted in HTML View

Currency field not formatted in HTML View

I don't know if this is a bug or expected.  A currency field that is appropriately formatted for a normal view, is not formatted when using the <%=field%> tag in an HTML View.  I am having to hard code format it.  Please advise if this behavior is expected (and why)...or is it a bug?
 
Thanks!
 
Robert
 
P.S. By formatted, I mean it is not rounded to two decimals, there is no currency sign, and there is no comma insertion.