U.S. Dollar Continues Slide Against Major Currencies

The U.S. dollar continues its downward trend, as it again dropped to a record low against the euro, and its lowest performance against the yen in twelve years.

Another first for the greenback was it fell below one Swiss franc for the first time in its history.

The news of the bailout of Bear Stearns Co. (NYSE: BSC), along with the growing suspicion that the Fed could cut interest rates up to a full point at their next meeting, caused gold to also surge to historic highs, increasing to $1,009 an ounce.

"The initial reaction is to sell the U.S., sell the dollar, sell the equities," said Jeff Gladstein, global head of foreign-exchange trading at AIG Financial Products. "This is bad news. It's definitely a confirmation of the reality that U.S. financial institutions are having a hard time."

Against the yen, the dollar plunged to 98.90, the worst performance since September 1995, while against the euro it dropped to a record $1.5688. With the Swiss franc, it feel to as low as 0.9988, down from Thursday's 1.0093.