Americans are shopping: retail sales rose by 0.7%, better than expected and the best since March. It came on top of an upwards revision of last month’s number to +0.4%. Core sales rose by 0.5%, also a beat. Jobless claims stand at 294K, slightly better than expected. The import prices index fell 1.5%, and yes, this is also better than predicted.
USD is stronger with EUR/USD dipping towards the lows of the day. However, the moves are not big.
More data: continuing claims jumped to 2.514K. Year over year import prices are down 2.3% against -2.6% expected.
Update: USD/CAD makes a convincing break above 1.15
All in all, the headline retail sales numbers are very positive. But, is this enough for the buck to buck the trend?
US retail sales were expected to rise by 0.4% in November after 0.3% in October (before revisions). Core retail sales were predicted to edge up by 0.1% after +0.3% beforehand. Jobless claims were expected to stand at 297K and import prices were forecast to fall 1.7% m/m.
Before the publication, EUR/USD traded around 1.2430, USD/JPY at 118.40, GBP/USD around 1.5680, AUD/USD around 0.8260 and USD/CAD just under 1.15.
This retail sales report is important as it deals with the shopping seasons, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The dollar is having a bad week so far, retracing a lot of the gains, including the latest thrust that was the result of the superb Non-Farm Payrolls report.
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