Euro fell today against the U.S. dollar as the retail sales unexpectedly continued to drop despite the increase of both import and export prices. Other global fundamental factors also pressed on the euro, helping the greenback to almost fully recover after a minor loss yesterday. EUR/USD is now trading near 1.3583 after reaching as high as 1.3721 earlier today — the highest level since March 23.
Advance retail sales report for April showed a decrease by 0.4% following 1.3% decline in March (revised down from 1.1%). They were expected to remain unchanged compared to the March level.
Import prices increased by 1.6% in April in United States after 0.2% growth in March; the forecasts were averaged at 0.6% growth for the month of April. Export prices rose by 0.5% in April after 0.7% decline in March.
Business inventories decreased by 1% in March, following 1.4% decline in February (revised down from 1.3%). The market analysts anticipated 1.1% drop from the report for March.
U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 4.7 million barrels last week compared to the previous week – for the first time in many weeks. They gained 0.6 million barrels a week ago.
