In the currency market, the dollar moved lower against the euro for the third straight day. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.3374 vs. $1.3314 on Thursday.
It was a grisly day for the buck against the Japanese currency, as well. Before trimming its losses late in the day, the dollar was selling for 88.10 yen, its lowest level since August 1995.
That is “a risk-appetite trade,” said Russell Jones, of RBC Capital Markets. “There isn't much risk appetite, and when that happens the yen tends to go up.”
Among the day’s hard numbers, the Commerce Department reported that US retail sales dropped 1.8% in November, their fifth straight monthly decline. Sales were down 7.4% compared with November of 2007.
Economists had been projecting a 2.1% decline, leading Mark Vitner of Wachovia to comment that, “The financial markets were braced for a horrific retail sales report for November, but the numbers were actually not so bad.”
Analysts from RDQ Economics noted that, “Although consumers are getting significant relief from lower gasoline prices, at this point they appear to be saving rather than spending the drop in their energy bills.”
Also yesterday, the Labor Department reported that the producer price index fell 2.2% in November, nearly as much as the record 2.8% drop in October. That was in line with economists’ forecasts.
