The US dollar traded generally lower versus other most-traded currencies today, but managed to gain on safer ones, like the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. Analysts explained such behavior by the market sentiment, which was positive to riskier higher-yielding assets. US retail sales were better than expected, but traders largely ignored the data.
The Census Bureau reported that retail sales increased by 0.2% in January from the previous month, whereas economists had not predicted any growth at all. Core sales increased by 0.9% versus the median forecast of a 0.4% increase. The December readings got a negative revision: from a drop by 1.2% to 1.6% for the headline figure, and from a decline of 1.8% to 2.1% for the underline figure.
By the end of the last week, the dollar struggled to find direction due to mixed nonfarm payrolls. Looking ahead, the greenback will be affected by various reports, most important of them likely being consumer and producer inflation figures.
EUR/USD traded at 1.1247 as of 19:48 GMT today after opening at 1.1235. AUD/USD rallied from 0.7035 to 0.7070. Meanwhile, USD/CHF jumped from 1.0075 to 1.0107, and USD/JPY was at 111.23, bouncing after the drop from the opening level of 111.15 to the daily low of 110.87 earlier today.
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