12 Dec 2014
USD cautiously higher after strong US retail sales – KBC
FXStreet (Barcelona) - The KBC Bank Research Team notes that USD is cautiously higher after release of the US retails sales as a part of the gains facilitated by the report was reversed by oil’s downleg.
Key Quotes
“On Thursday, investors initially kept a wait-and-see bias after a new down-leg in the oil driven risk-off trade the previous day. Stocks were looking for a bottom and so was the dollar. The TLTRO received a mediocre demand The impact on currency trading was negligible.”
“The US retail sales were very strong. Initially, the gains of the dollar were hampered by a new down-leg of oil. However, markets couldn’t ignore the report. The dollar gained against the euro and even more against the yen supported by higher US bond yields at the front end of the curve. Equities rebounded, too.”
“However, oil didn’t give in. Another downleg late in the US reversed part of the post-retail sales reaction. USD/JPY closed the session at 118.65 (vs 117.82 on Wednesday), but off the intraday top of 119.56. EUR/USD ended the session at 1.2411 (vs 1.2448). So, the daily gains of the dollar were still not really spectacular.”
Key Quotes
“On Thursday, investors initially kept a wait-and-see bias after a new down-leg in the oil driven risk-off trade the previous day. Stocks were looking for a bottom and so was the dollar. The TLTRO received a mediocre demand The impact on currency trading was negligible.”
“The US retail sales were very strong. Initially, the gains of the dollar were hampered by a new down-leg of oil. However, markets couldn’t ignore the report. The dollar gained against the euro and even more against the yen supported by higher US bond yields at the front end of the curve. Equities rebounded, too.”
“However, oil didn’t give in. Another downleg late in the US reversed part of the post-retail sales reaction. USD/JPY closed the session at 118.65 (vs 117.82 on Wednesday), but off the intraday top of 119.56. EUR/USD ended the session at 1.2411 (vs 1.2448). So, the daily gains of the dollar were still not really spectacular.”