The US dollar opened sharply higher against a range of other most-traded currencies today on the back of risk aversion. Currently, though, the greenback is weak due to retail sales missing expectations and geopolitical tensions.
The US Census Bureau reported that retail sales rose just 0.1% in September, while analysts had predicted a much bigger increase by 0.7%. Core retail sales, which exclude volatile auto sales, fell 0.1% instead of rising by 0.4% as forecasters had promised. Not all reports were bad as the Empire State Manufacturing Index climbed from 19.0 in September to 21.1 in October, exceeding expectations of 20.4, but traders paid more attention to the negative part of today’s data.
Market analysts argued that the US currency fell also due to increasing tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The USA were considering sanctions against the Middle Eastern country for its alleged involvement in the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a known critic of the Saudi rulers. Saudi Arabia threatened to retaliate if the US will indeed take such actions.
EUR/USD rallied from 1.1539 to 1.1576 as of 18:11 GMT today after closing at 1.1534 on Friday and reaching the session maximum of 1.1606 on Monday. GBP/USD traded at 1.3148 following the Friday’s close at 1.3153 and the Monday’s open of 1.3083. USD/CHF closed at 0.9891 on Friday, opened at 0.9900 today, but retreated to 0.9881 later.
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