Early trade in New York: dollar tumbles broadly as US-China trade tension intensifies

The US dollar dropped broadly on Friday after President Donald Trump ordered US companies to start looking for an alternative to China after Beijing imposed more tariffs on American goods, further escalating tension between the world's two largest economies in a prolonged trade dispute.
That triggered mass selling in the dollar, which fell from a three-week high against the euro and to one-week troughs versus the yen and Swiss franc. Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields also fell sharply.
The dollar, however, strengthened against the Chinese yuan in the offshore market, hitting a two-week high.
"Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA," Trump wrote on Twitter.
His tweet followed China's earlier move on Friday when it announced retaliatory tariffs against about $75 billion worth of US goods, putting as much as an extra 10% on top of existing rates.
"Clearly when you look at the US yields and the dollar's reaction, there are concerns that these latest comments from Trump on China will push the US into recession," said Marvin Loh, senior global markets strategist, at State Street in Boston.
In midday trading, the euro rose 0.5% to $1.1134, after earlier touching a three-week low of $1.1052. An index that tracks the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.4% at 97.772.
The dollar fell to a one-week low against the yen and was last at 105.46, down 0.9%. It earlier hit a one-week high of 106.73. Against the Chinese yuan, the dollar was up 0.6% at 7.13 yuan, after earlier touching a two-week peak of 7.1332.