US Dollar Index remains strong amid positive retail sales data
Written by
Daily Currency Update
The US Dollar Index (DXY) continued to trade strong this morning after hitting a 5-month high on Friday. The DXY was up 0.15% this morning to trade near 105.12. Retail sales data helped boost the USD with Core Retail Sales month-over-month, which excludes automotive sales, coming in better than the expected 0.5% and previous 0.5% at 1.1%. Monthly retail sales came in at 0.7%, better than the expected 0.4% but worse than the previous 0.9%. In other data news, the Empire State Manufacturing Index, a monthly survey of manufacturers in New York to rate the relative level of business, came in much worse than expected at -14.3. The anticipated level was -5.2 and the previous was -20.9. Business inventories came in higher-than-expected month-over-month at 0.4%with the forecast and previous being 0.3% and 0% respectively. Finally, the National Associate of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI), which is a monthly survey to read the pulse of the single-family housing market, remained unchanged at 51.Key Movers
In Eurozone news, the monthly industrial production data came in, as expected, at 0.8%, well above the previous -3%. The EUR/USD pair was down around 0.15% this morning to trade near 1.0626. The euro fell to a 4-month low in recent days against the USD.The euro’s UK counterpart found a similar fate against the strong USD. The GBP/USD pair was narrowly up this morning about 0.03%, trading near 1.2447. This slight rise followed the GBP’s recent dip to a 4-month low against the USD.
The Canadian dollar made minor gains this morning, making up for some of its losses last week. The USD/CAD pair traded at 1.3769 this morning. In data news, Canadian Manufacturing Sales month-over-month came in as expected at 0.7%, above the previous 0% reading. Monthly Wholesale Sales conversely showed worse than expected data at 0%. These were forecasted at 0.8% and the previous level came in at -0.2%. Oil was down this morning around 0.67%, near 84.85 this morning.
Expected Ranges
- EUR/USD: 1.06232 - 1.06652 ▼
- GBP/USD: 1.24305 - 1.24986 ▲
- AUD/USD: 0.64538 - 0.64931 ▼
- USD/CAD: 1.37251 - 1.37816 ▼