Midday trade in New York: Euro weakens for second day

The euro fell against the dollar for a second straight day on Friday, weighed down by concerns about European bank stress test results due later in the day and unexpectedly weak US data that fuelled risk aversion. Traders, however, cited talk that banks failing the tests could actually number more than 20.
"The key number is 15. If the number is higher than 15 banks, then that would create a disturbance in euro/dollar," said Boris Schlossberg, director of FX research at GFT in New York. In midday New York trading, the euro slipped 0.1 percent to $1.41243, still above a four-month low of $1.38376 hit this week. On the week, the euro was down 0.7 percent versus the dollar. The euro was down 0.1 percent at 1.15260 Swiss francs while the dollar was flat at 0.81620 franc. However, both the euro and the dollar hovered not far from recent record lows of 1.14942 francs and 0.80800 franc respectively.