EUR/USD extended its move higher for the third session in a row today due to the general weakness of the US dollar. One of the reasons for the lackluster performance of the greenback was yesterday’s report that demonstrated stagnant retail sales. As a result, the currency pair traded near the highest level since February.
PPI fell 0.4% in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, frustrating market experts who promised a 0.1% increase. The index was up 0.2% in March. (Event A on the chart.)
Seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims were at 264k last week, almost unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate of 265k. Ahead of the report, specialists thought that unemployment claims would rise to 272k. (Event A on the chart.)
On Tuesday (May 12), a report on treasury budget deficit was released, showing a reading of -$156.7 billion (a surplus) in April. The value expected by market participants was closer to -$151.3 while the March’s value was at $52.9 (a deficit). (Not shown on the chart.)
Yesterday, several reports from the United States were released. (Not shown on the chart.)
Retail sales were flat in April while markets were counting on a 0.3% increase. The previous month’s figure was revised positively from 0.9% to 1.1%.
Import and export prices fell in April. Prices for import were down 0.3% instead of rising at the same rate as was predicted by most analysts. The drop followed the 0.2% decline in March. Prices for exports dropped 0.7% after rising 0.1% in the prior month.
Business inventories ticked up 0.1% in March. Economists predicted the same rate of increase as in February — 0.2%.
Crude oil inventories decreased by 2.2 million barrels last week compared to the forecast drop by 0.1 million. Still, inventories were at the highest level for this time of year in at least the last 80 years. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.1 million barrels but are well above the upper limit of the average range.
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