Foreign Exchange for Thursday, Sept. 12, 1985 : Profit Taking Sends Dollar Lower

The U.S. dollar dipped lower Thursday. Gold was also down slightly.

“I’d attribute it to profit taking,” said Audrey McNiff, currency analyst at Irving Trust. But, she added, “you can still be a bull and sell dollars.”

She said many traders, anticipating a downward correction after watching recent gains against the West German mark, apparently decided to sell.

In Europe, where the dollar turned in a mixed performance earlier in the day, foreign exchange dealers said the release today of statistics on U.S. retail sales, industrial production and producer prices for August should give a clearer picture of the U.S. economy’s condition, which is widely believed to be showing renewed vigor.

McNiff said she thought U.S. traders expect positive figures, and “have discounted those numbers already,” and thus they may have little impact.