Clinton Scandal Sends Dollar Lower

The dollar dropped to a two-month low against the Japanese yen and also fell against the German mark as traders were unsettled by allegations of a sex scandal involving President Clinton.

The dollar was “getting slapped pretty much across the board,” falling nearly the entire trading day from Asia to New York, said Robert Houck, a currency vice president at Norwest Bank Corp.

Other beneficiaries of the flight to safety were the Swiss franc, traditional haven in times of turmoil, and the British pound, representing a stable economy, high interest rates and little linkage to continental Europe’s economic problems.

But the dollar extended its run against the Canadian dollar, rising to another all-time high.