Down And Down the Dollar Goes

Where it will stop, certainly nobody in Bonn or Washington knows

European tourists flocked to tony U.S. stores last week, snapping up bargains. Shoppers like Pirrera Enza, a bank worker from Sicily, stocked up on perfumes and cosmetics at Bloomingdale's in New York City for less than half their price at home. Enza flew back a few days later with a planeload of beaming compatriots toting bags and luggage bulging with American-bought goods.

What made the bonanza possible was the U.S. dollar's plunge to its lowest level since World War II. But that same decline meant that while the Europeans frolicked, Americans abroad turned into window shoppers because the cost of everything...

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