Dollar Rises Again, But Clouds Pop Up

The dollar ended mostly higher Friday, partly recouping losses the day before on the strength of healthy U.S. economic data, no sign of Japanese intervention to defend the yen and broad weakness in the mark.

But the dollar’s gains were muted by a big drop in stock prices from the data on rising retail sales and wholesale prices, which suggested the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again to repress inflation.

The Dow Jones average closed at the lowest level since December.

In New York the dollar settled at 126.03 yen, up from 125.65 yen Thursday. The dollar cost 1.7201 marks, up from 1.7178. But the dollar weakened slightly vs. the pound, which rose to $1.6284, up from $1.6234.