Midday trade in New York: dollar slumps; Swiss franc hits all-time high

The US dollar tumbled on Thursday, with further losses seen amid a surge in oil prices as investors feared a civil uprising in Libya could spill over to other top producers including Saudi Arabia.
Further hurting the dollar - especially against the euro - were comments by St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard saying the Fed can "never say never" to another round of quantitative easing, a scenario that typically undermines the greenback.
In contrast, the European Central Bank continued its hawkish rhetoric, with ECB policymaker Axel Weber saying the only way for eurozone rates to go is up. In midday New York trading, the ICE Futures' dollar index slumped to its lowest in three weeks at 77.011. It was last at 77.119, down 0.4 percent.
The dollar fell to a record low of 0.9240 Swiss franc on electronic trading platform EBS, its slide having intensified after triggering stop-loss selling below its previous record low of 0.9301 set at the end of last year.
The dollar last traded down 0.8 percent at 0.9249 franc. The euro also weakened against the franc, sliding to around 1.2706 francs, its lowest since January 13, before pulling back to 1.2754, 0.6 percent lower on the day. The dollar was down 1.0 percent at 81.67 yen.