*NEWS*DOLLAR DROPS OVER TRADE DATA

[Anonymous]

Dollar drops as traders fret about trade data
With dearth of news, Wall Street looks to Friday’s trade
report March,
2005

NEW YORK – The U.S.
dollar tumbled further against the euro Wednesday amid concerns surrounding the
release of U.S. monthly trade data later this week.

The 12-nation euro
bought $1.3384 in afternoon European trading Wednesday, up from $1.3342 in New
York late Tuesday.

Worries over the
U.S. trade deficit also kept the dollar down against the Japanese yen. The U.S.
currency bought 103.88 yen, down from 104.71 yen Tuesday. The British pound
slipped to $1.9279 from $1.9281.

Growing
expectations among traders that U.S. trade data Friday will show the deficit
remaining at high levels in January are weighing on the dollar.

Concerns over the
yawning U.S. trade and budget deficits have dragged the dollar down since late
last year, when the euro shot up from about $1.20 in September to an all-time
high of $1.3667 at the end of December. The dollar has recovered slightly since,
but has remained within a few cents of that record.

The trade deficit
hit $56.4 billion in December, and economists expect the January figure to show
a slight increase. Only a light lineup of U.S. data is due before the report,
leaving markets to focus on the U.S. economy’s long-term structural
problems.

[Author]

March 11, 2005 at 10:07 AM