US Dollar back to flat in the runup to January Retail Sales data

LONDON (February 14) The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, is orbiting around 107.00 at the time of writing, consolidating Thursday's losses. The Greenback came under pressure again after US President Donald Trump signed a memo on Thursday that instructed staff to work on reciprocal tariffs. These tariffs will take weeks or even months before being implemented, which gives time to US trading partners to negotiate and find solutions. 

The economic calendar is focusing on US Retail Sales this Friday. Although US data tends to be market-moving, it seems markets are rather ignoring this week’s figures. Next week, investors will focus on the S&P Global Purchase Managers Index (PMI) preliminary data for February due on Friday 21. 

Daily digest market movers: US Retail Sales ahead

• At 13:30, nearly all important data for this Friday will be released:
  • January Import/Export prices are due, with the monthly Export Price Index expected to rise steadily by 0.3% and the Import Price Index to jump 0.4% compared to 0.1% in December.
  • January Retail Sales will be published, with the headline figure expected to shrink by 0.1% compared to 0.4% growth in December. Retail Sales without Cars and Transportation should fall to 0.3% from 0.4% in the previous month.
• Equities are mixed due to all the geopolitical elements moving around. On average, most indices are down or up by less than 0.5%. 
• The CME FedWatch tool shows a 57.4% chance that interest rates will remain unchanged at current levels in June. This suggests that the Fed would keep rates unchanged for longer to fight against persistent inflation. 
• The US 10-year yield is trading around 4.54%, a deep dive from this week’s high of 4.657%.

FXStreet