DXY drops slightly heading into Friday

Key Movers

The German Producer Price Index (PPI) data released this morning showed a drop more than twice what economists had called for. The price of goods produced by Europe’s biggest manufacturing country fell by -1.2, compared to a prediction of a -0.5% drop. This helped the Euro to start the session in the hope that rate cuts may be on the way.

The GBP was down against the Greenback in overnight markets as retail sales in Britain fell off by 2.4% in December from the same month the year before. This saw the pound drop off against most majors heading into the weekend.

The Canadian dollar made a small rebound against its US counterpart heading into the North American trading session. Some of these gains started to erode as data released today showed that retail sales in November were weaker than expected. Sales were forecast to be even year-over-year but fell off by -0.2%. Oil prices were mixed this morning with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price falling off slightly as Chinese growth released this week came up short of expectations. At the same time, the Western Canadian Select (ECS) price was up today as the long-awaited expansion of the Trans-Mountain pipeline gets closer. This will allow more Canadian oil to be shipped faster.