Dollar Falls on Softer Inflation, Weak U.S. Data
Dow Jones Newswires</br></br>NEW YORK -- The dollar fell Friday after a softer-than-expected September core-inflation reading and generally weak U.S. data.</br></br>In volatile morning trading, the dollar tumbled as the data were released, briefly bounced back and then fell to fresh session lows by midday. In the end, the dollar was far off the two-year high it tapped Thursday against the yen, while the euro gained more than a cent from its session low and briefly topped $1.21.</br></br>In late New York trading, the euro was at $1.2087, up from $1.2033 late Thursday. The dollar sank to 114.01 yen from 114.32 yen and to 1.2834 Swiss francs from 1.2877 francs. The pound was fetching $1.7699, up from $1.7563.</br></br>Although overall consumer prices rose 1.2% in September, the core number -- excluding food and energy -- rose just 0.1%. A 0.2% rise in retail sales in September also put pressure on the dollar; a 0.4% increase had been expected. The 1.3% drop in industrial production in September and the University of Michigan's mid-October consumer- sentiment index were both worse than expected.