By CountingPips.com
The U.S. dollar has been gaining ground against the other major currencies in forex trading today as risk aversion has propelled the American currency higher and to an 18-month high versus the euro. The dollar has gained today versus the euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar while falling to the Japanese yen, according to currency data near the end of the U.S. session at 4:15 pm ET.
The euro dropped today to an 18-month low point versus the dollar as the euro-dollar pair (EUR/USD) slid to 1.2353 and marked its lowest point since October 28th, 2008. The EUR/USD pair is on its way to declining against the dollar for the fifth straight week as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe has pushed the EUR/USD lower by over 1,200 pips in that time frame.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, declined today with the Dow Jones down by 162 points, the Nasdaq lower by over 47 points and the S&P 500 fell by more than 21 points. Oil traded lower by $2.47 to the $71.93 per barrel level while gold rose by $10.90 to trade at the $1,210.00 per ounce level.
Retail Sales rise again in April
U.S. economic news today showed that retail sales rose for the seventh straight month in April. Advance estimates of retail sales showed that sales grew by 0.4 percent to a total of $366.4 billion in April, according to the report by the U.S. Commerce Department. March’s retail sales data was revised higher to show an increase of 2.1 percent after the original report registered a 1.9 percent increase. On an annual basis, April’s retail sales level was 8.8 percent higher than the April 2009 level.
The monthly sales results were better than expected as the market forecasts were looking for retail sales to rise by approximately 0.2 percent.
Core retail sales, excluding automobile sales and parts, advanced by 0.4 percent in April after the revised data showed that core sales rose by 1.3 percent in March. The core sales data also just surpassed market forecasts which were expecting a rise of 0.3 percent. On an annual basis, core sales rose by 7.6 percent in April following an annual gain of 7.4 percent in March.
Contributing to the advancement in retail sales numbers for April was a 6.9 percent jump in building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers while motor vehicle & parts dealers saw a sales gain by 0.5 percent. Other sectors contributing positively to the data were health & personal care stores by 0.9 percent and gasoline stations by 0.5 percent.
Contributing negatively to the retail data was a decrease in sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores sales by 1.9 percent while furniture & home furnishings stores sales declined by 1.2 percent for the month.
EUR/USD Daily Chart – The Euro today continuing its sharp decline against the US dollar in the forex markets and on the way to falling for the fifth straight weekly close. The pair has been on a non-stop ride lower and today fell to its lowest point since late October 2008 below the 1.2400 threshold.
