The U.S. dollar tumbled further against the euro Wednesday amid concerns surrounding the release of U.S. monthly trade data later this week.
The 12-nation euro bought US$1.3384 in afternoon European trading Wednesday, up from US$1.3342 in New York late Tuesday.
Worries over the U.S. trade deficit also kept the dollar down against the Japanese yen. The U.S. currency bought 103.88 yen, down from 104.71 yen Tuesday. The British pound slipped slightly to US$1.9279 from US$1.9281.
Growing expectations among traders that U.S. trade data Friday will show the deficit remaining at high levels in January are weighing on the dollar.
Concerns over the yawning U.S. trade and budget deficits have dragged the dollar down since late last year, when the euro shot up from about US$1.20 in September to an all-time high of US$1.3667 at the end of December. The dollar has recovered slightly since, but has remained within a few cents of that record.
The trade deficit weighed in at US$56.4 billion (euro42.3 billion) in December, and economists expect the January figure to show a slight increase. Only a light lineup of U.S. data is due before the report, leaving markets to focus on the U.S. economy's long-term structural problems.