Sleepy Dollar Slips

The dollar edged lower against most major currencies Monday in thin trading, reflecting a lack of economic news and fear that U.S. interest rates could fall if the economy slows further.

“Today’s trading followed the pattern of a lot of Mondays recently when there’s no data out,” said Margaret Kudaraskas, senior foreign exchange analyst at Technical Data, a Boston financial market research concern. “They are pretty directionless.”

The dollar’s weakness contrasted sharply with a big rally in the U.S. stock and bond markets.

Exchange Currency in Dollars Dollars in foreign currency Canada .7240 1.3812 France .2034 4.9175 Germany .7130 1.4025 Great Britain 1.5985 .6256 Italy .000607 1647.00 Japan .011809 84.68 Mexico .161812 6.1800