Dollar Extends Gains

The dollar mostly strengthened Monday in global foreign exchange trading, building on its gains from last week based on evidence that healthy U.S. economic growth isn’t producing much domestic inflation.

“The underlying theme today was a continuation of what we saw on Friday,” said Richard Vullo, vice president of the customer desk at the N.Y. branch of Germany’s Hypo Bank. “There may be the beginnings of a change in sentiment out there. They’re talking about a higher dollar.”

The government reported a sharp increase in Jan. unemployment Friday and a large drop in the creation of new jobs. It was the most persuasive evidence to date that higher U.S. interest rates are beginning to slow the economy from a fast expansion that could arouse higher inflation.

Currency in Dollar in

Exchange Dollars foreign currency

Canada .7163 1.3960

France .1884 5.3090

Germany .6538 1.5295

Great Britain 1.5620 .6402

Japan .010070 99.30