Dollar Loses Ground as Oil Fuels Worries
The dollar slumped to a one-month low against the yen on Tuesday, as tumbling oil prices continued to fuel investors' concerns about global growth.</br></br>The dollar fell 1.2% in late-afternoon trading to 116.35 yen, its lowest in a month. The euro gained 0.6% to $1.2512, its strongest since Nov. 27.</br></br>Global oil prices fell for a fifth session in a row, with Brent crude futures ending at $59.86 a barrel, the lowest in more than five years.</br></br>Some investors are worried that oil's drop signals a softening global economy, prompting them to shed their bets on a stronger dollar and buy haven assets such as the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasurys.</br></br>"The concern is that the decline in oil prices will be more persistent, and that this will start to hurt economies and change central banks' behavior," said Sireen Harajli, foreign-exchange strategist at Mizuho Bank. "So investors have headed into assets that are considered safer, like the yen and the Swiss franc, which is why we see [the dollar-yen pair] back around 116 yen."