Summary:
- US consumers slowed their expenditure at the beginning of the new quarter
- Empire manufacturing activity in May jumped to 17.8
- US dollar little changed following the data
The first look at the US hard data in the second quarter does not bode well for economic growth there. Headline retail sales in April decreased 0.2% MoM, missing the median estimate of a 0.2% MoM increase. On top of that, we were also offered a notable miss in case of core sales (ex. auto) which rose only 0.1% MoM (a 0.7% MoM increase had been expected). It is also worth mentioning a flat reading for sales in the control group, a series taken into GDP calculations. The data for March was revised slightly up. The weaker retail sales report was offset to some extent by the excellent print of the Empire manufacturing index coming in at 17.8, up from 10.1, above expectations of 8 points. The US dollar is declining slightly shortly after the data.
The EURUSD is rising following the data. Buyers have run into the trend line which could be a hard nut to crack for them. If so, one could hope for a return to falls toward 1.11. Source: xStation5
