Breaking News Stories
These are news stories breaking after the publishing of this Word
from.
–The Euro...The New World Currency?
Dollar slumps
against euro as US economic fears mount
AFP
NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar slumped to a fresh eight-month low against
the euro, and flirted near four-month lows against the Japanese yen as
the currency markets continued to fret over US economic growth.
At 2100 GMT, the euro was trading at 1.2613 dollars in late New York
trade, up sharply from 1.2585 late Wednesday.
In earlier European trading, the euro had soared as high as 1.2652
dollars, on renewed concerns over US economic growth and soaring oil
prices.
The dollar also declined against the yen, trading at 107.46 late
Thursday, down from 108.20 a day earlier.
The sell-off continued after a key US economic barometer weakened for
the fourth straight month in September as oil prices surged, showing a
worrying loss of momentum.
The Conference Board said Thursday its index of leading economic
indicators, forecasting activity in the coming months, dipped 0.1 point
from the previous month to 115.6, in line with Wall Street expectations.
"A fourth consecutive decline in the leading economic indicators is a
clear signal that the economy is losing momentum heading into 2005,"
Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein said.
Traders said concerns about the US current account and budget deficits
were also fueling dollar angst.
The week-long sell off of the dollar continued apace despite US Treasury
Secretary John Snow telling reporters on Wednesday the US government
supported a "strong dollar."
The dollar continues to trade around lows against the euro last seen in
February as record oil prices also add to the mounting economic frets,
New York oil prices closed out the day at 54.92 dollars a barrel
Thursday.
"It's clear that euro strength isn't coming from any eurozone economic
data but rather from a massive shift in market psychology that has
turned decidedly dollar bearish since Monday's (capital flows) report,"
said Boris Schlossberg, a currency analyst with FX Capital Markets.
A report by JP Morgan this week showed net foreign capital flows into
the United States fell to 59 billion dollars in August from a revised
63.1 billion in July.
And some analysts are now predicting the dollar could weaken further,
and that the euro could even pierce 1.27 dollars in the next month.
Traders said concern about the neck-and-neck US presidential race had
also done little to calm the market's nerves.
In late New York trade, the dollar stood at 1.2174 Swiss francs from
1.2217 Thursday.
The pound stood at 1.8269 dollars after 1.8161.
|