The dollar fell to a 14-month low against the euro as JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s earnings beat analysts’ estimates, buoying global stocks and encouraging investors to buy riskier assets. Norway’s krone and South Africa’s rand led gains against the dollar among the 16 most-traded counterparts tracked by Bloomberg as U.S. retail sales fell in September less than economists forecast. Canada’s dollar approached parity with the U.S. currency as crude oil rallied. “Risk-appetite-driven moves still seem to be the dominate feature,” said Robert Lynch, head of currency strategy at HSBC Holdings Plc in New York. The rally in stocks “has been bearish for the dollar,” he added. The dollar declined 0.3 percent to $1.4904 per euro at 9:18 a.m. in New York, from $1.4854 yesterday, after trading at $1.4920, the weakest level since August 2008. The yen was little changed at 89.54 per dollar, compared with 89.71, and traded at 133.44 per euro, compared with 133.26. U.S. retail sales decreased 1.5 percent in September, after rising a revised 2.2 percent in the previous month, the Commerce Department said. The median forecast of 78 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a drop of 2.1 percent. Excluding car sales, sales gained 0.5 percent, compared with the median forecast of 0.2 percent. The Canadian currency appreciated as much as 0.6 percent to C$1.0253 per U.S. dollar, the strongest level since August 2008. Norway’s krone climbed 1 percent to 5.5587 per U.S. dollar. Crude oil, Canada’s and Norway’s biggest source of export earnings, advanced to $75.17 a barrel, the most since October 2008, before trading at $74.87. Dollar Index The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners, fell 0.5 percent to 75.568, after earlier dropping to 75.436, the lowest level since August 2008. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in December rose 1.4 percent after New York-based JPMorgan said today third- quarter earnings climbed to $3.59 billion, or 82 cents a share, compared with analysts’ estimates of 51 cents per share. “Markets are approaching a delicate phase because equity risk appetite is in euphoria,” Credit Suisse Group AG analysts led by London-based Ray Farris wrote in a note today. “A correction seems likely to us by year-end. For foreign exchange, this implies risk of a rally in funding currencies, the dollar and the pound, at the expense of risk trades such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars and Norway’s krone.” Borrowing Costs The Fed’s target rate for overnight bank loans is in a range of zero to 0.25 percent and the Bank of England’s benchmark is 0.5 percent. Those compare with target rates of 1.25 percent in Norway and 3.25 percent in Australia. U.S. policy makers may start raising the fed funds target in the second quarter of 2010, according to analysts’ forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. The Australian dollar rose as much as 0.8 percent to 91.58 U.S. cents, the highest level since August 2008. The rand gained 0.9 percent to 7.2622 per dollar. Shipments from China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, dropped 15.2 percent to $115.9 billion from a year earlier, the customs bureau said today. The median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 21 percent decline. In August, exports slid 23.4 percent. “The China data in general showed pretty strong exports and imports,” David Forrester, currency economist in Singapore at Barclays Capital, wrote in a note to clients today. The figures are “much stronger than consensus, so it is good news for commodity currencies.” The Bank of Japan left its benchmark interest rate at 0.1 percent today and refrained from saying whether it would end its corporate debt purchase programs. The rate will hold steady through 2010, analysts forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

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