US dollar hits new low against euro

Story link: US dollar hits new low against euro

The US dollar weakened versus the euro on Friday after new data showed that US economic growth slowed to 1.3 percent in the first quarter of the year. The gross domestic product had been expected to rise by 1.8 percent in the quarter, and it was well below the 2.5 percent growth in the final quarter of 2006.

At one point in the session, the greenback dropped to $1.3682 versus the euro, its lowest point since the shared currency was introduced in 1999. Later in the day, the dollar managed to gain back some of its losses to trade at $1.3630 against the euro, still a loss of 0.3 percent on the day. The dollar has dropped 3.3 percent against the European currency since the beginning of the year. The euro has been helped this week by good business sentiment numbers out of Germany.

At late morning in New York, meanwhile, the US dollar was trading at ¥119.68 versus the Japanese yen and at $1.9987 against sterling. The UK currency was at ¥239.19 against the Japanese currency, while the euro traded at ¥162.97 in relation to the yen.