Good Week for Dollar, Disappointing for Stocks

A comparison of the closing values of the US Dollar on Monday and the weekend against some of the major international currencies is as follows: $1 bought 108.15 Japan Yen on Monday, but 109.41 on Friday; the Swiss Franc was 1.22 to the dollar on Monday, but 1.24 on Friday; the Canadian Dollar fell from 1.30 on Monday to 1.31 on Friday. 1 Euro traded at $1.2424 on Monday, but by Friday had weakened to $1.2269; 1 Pound Sterling was $1.8711 on Monday and $1.8465 on Friday.

The New York Stock Exchange on the other hand continued its poor run of form. Lower than expected second quarter warnings from Microsoft and Coca Cola coupled with the fear of terrorist attacks because of the upcoming US Presidential elections saw the Dow lose 1.75 percent last week. The Nasdaq lost 1.8 percent.

Other stock exchanges were affected by the poor performances of the New York markets, with the London FTSE 100 losing 12.9 points to finish the week at 4,326.3 points. The Frankfurt Dax fell 48.60 points to end the week on 3,797.33 points. The price of a barrel of US light crude was $41.71 at the close of trading on Friday.