US Retail Sales beat with +0.5% – USD extends gains. The US consumer is doing the job: headline retail sales beat with +0.5% and the control group beat with +0.4%. Revisions, which were notoriously horrible in some previous publications, are hardly seen. While this is good news, this does not tilt the picture too much for the Fed.
The US dollar is extending its gains but the move does not last too long.
Import prices are also on the rise with 1.4% instead of +0.7% expected.
US retail sales were expected to continue rising in May after big leaps in April. This is a top tier publication,released just one day ahead of the Fed decision and could provide some last minute impact on Yellen and her colleagues.
The US dollar and the Japanese yen were on the roll ahead of the publication, beating other currencies, especially suffering sterling and the euro, everything related to the specter of Brexit.
Retail Sales data
- Retail sales: previous 1.3%, expected 0.3%, actual: +0.5%
- Core retail sales: prev. +0.8%, exp. +0.4%, actual: +0.4%.
- Retail control: prev. +0.9%, exp. +0.3%, actual: +0.4%.
- Ex gas/autos: prev. +0.6%, actual: +0.3%.
Currency reactions
- EUR/USD traded around 1.1226, getting carried away by pound weakness. The pair slides below 1.1220.
- GBP/USD reached a new low, trading at 1.4120. Support awaits at 1.4050. A small slide is seen.
- USD/JPY dipped under 106. Dollar/yen temporarily tops this round level.
- USD/CAD was around 1.2860, holding on quite well.
- AUD/USD traded at 0.7350 ahead of the Australian jobs report.
- NZD/USD was around 0.70.