MARKETS

DOLLAR IS POISED FOR LONGEST LOSING STREAK IN ALMOST A YEAR

The dollar is poised to decline against the euro, creating its longest losing streak in almost a year, a survey of strategists, investors, and traders indicates. Forty-nine percent of the 82 people polled on December 3 from Tokyo to New York recommended selling the dollar against the euro. Twenty-seven percent said they would buy and the rest advised holding the American currency. The dollar dropped 10.3% to an all-time low versus the euro and 7.6% against the yen in the past three months on speculation the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve favor a weaker currency to narrow the record deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of trade. Treasury Secretary John Snow suggested in an interview on December 3 that he won’t stand in the path of a decline in the dollar. “Markets can overshoot and undershoot, and they often do, but the virtue of markets is they’re self-correcting,” Mr. Snow said after the dollar fell to $1.34 per euro for the first time. “I’m not going to comment on what we might or might not do, but I will say I’ve got a deep respect for the way markets perform.” Against the euro, the dollar lost 1.2% last week to $1.35 in New York on December 3, according to EBS, an electronic currency-trading system The American dollar has dropped for eight consecutive weeks against the euro. It hasn’t weakened for nine in a row since a period stretching from November 10, 2003, to January 9 of this year.

– Bloomberg News

FOREIGN

GOLDCORP AGREES TO BUY WHEATON RIVER FOR $1.8 BILLION

Goldcorp, Canada’s fourth-largest gold producer, has agreed to buy Wheaton River Minerals for $1.8 billion in stock, giving Goldcorp its first assets outside of North America, the chief executive, Robert R. McEwen, said. Wheaton River shareholders would receive one Goldcorp common share for every four common shares of Wheaton River stock, Toronto-based Goldcorp said in a statement. Wheaton River is based in Vancouver. This deal “gives us good geographic diversification” Mr. McEwen said in a telephone interview. Goldcorp has mines in Ontario, Canada, and South Dakota, while Wheaton has an interest in a copper and gold mine in Argentina, a silver and gold mine in Mexico, and a gold mine in Australia. Goldcorp rose 8 cents to $14.31 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading on December 3. Wheaton River rose 7 cents to $3.16.

– Bloomberg News

LENOVO WOULD BECOME NO. 3 COMPUTER MAKER WITH IBM BUY

Lenovo Group Ltd. of China would transform itself into one of the world’s top three computer makers with the purchase of IBM’s personal-computer unit, which may fetch $2 billion. IBM, which is selling the division to concentrate on its more profitable services business, is discussing a sale to Beijing-based Lenovo, China’s biggest computer maker, a person familiar with the matter said December 3. Lenovo has already overtaken Dell and Hewlett-Packard, the world’s two largest PC makers, in its home market by taking advantage of the region’s low labor and production costs. Owning IBM’s PC business may help Lenovo step up pressure on Dell and Hewlett-Packard in Europe and the U.S. and bolster Asia’s role as a global hub of technology manufacturing. “China is clearly on the rise in the world stage,” said Jason Maxwell, an analyst at Los Angeles-based TCW Group Inc., which manages $100 billion. “Chinese businesses are going to try to export their products and sell into foreign markets.” Lenovo, formerly known as Legend, is the eighth-largest computer maker in the world and last year changed its name because rights to the Legend name were held by other companies outside of China. Lenovo shares were unchanged at HK$2.68 in Hong Kong Friday. Shares of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, the world’s largest computer-services company, rose $1.32 to $97.08 in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.

– Bloomberg News