NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) – The dollar rose against the euro on Thursday, pulling the common currency back from a seven-month peak, after U.S. economic data eased fears of a recession risk and dampened expectations for aggressive interest rate cuts.
U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in July, a sign that demand is not collapsing and could prompt financial markets to dial back expectations for a 50 basis points rate cut next month.
Additionally, fewer Americans than expected filed for unemployment benefits, suggesting an orderly labor market slowdown remained in place, though laid-off workers are finding it a bit difficult to land new jobs.
The European common currency fell 0.33% versus the dollar at $1.0976. It reached $1.10475, its highest level this year, on Wednesday, as markets digested U.S. inflation numbers.
The dollar index was last at 102.96, rising 0.35% and moving away from the eight-month low of 102.15 it touched last week.
“The retail sales figures are definitely good news, and I’d expect we might see some response in equities as well as USD, which is making a clear move stronger on the heels of today’s release,” said Helen Given, associate director of trading at Monex USA.
“To me, however, the bigger story for USD might be hidden in the jobless claims, which were for the second week in a row below expectations on both the initial and continuing fronts,” she added. “This gives more license to the school of thought that July’s exceptionally poor nonfarm payroll data may have been a sort of flash in the pan, and the panic surrounding the Fed last week may have been just that: a panic.”
But the problem is that the longer the interest rates stay this high, the longer it may actually eventually have an impact on the economy.
The pound was up 0.16% at 1.2836, as data showed Britain’s economy grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024, in line with economists’ expectations and building on a rapid 0.7% recovery in the first quarter of the year.
The pound also strengthened on the euro, which dipped 0.49% to 85.42 pence.
Today’s U.S. releases build on the consumer price index, which rose moderately, in line with expectations, and the annual increase in inflation slowed to below 3% for the first time since early 2021.
The figures add to the mild increase in producer prices in July in suggesting that inflation is on a downward trend, although traders now think the Fed will not be as aggressive on rate cuts as they had hoped.
“(The retail sales) results should provide reassurance on growth and the consumer outlook,” said David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie. He still expects a 25 bps cut in September.
Markets are now pricing in a 72.5% chance of a 25 bps cut next month and a 27.5% chance of a 50 bps reduction, the CME FedWatch tool showed. Traders were evenly split at the start of the week between the two cut options following last week’s sell-off.
The yen was at 148.9 per dollar, inching away from the seven-month high of 141.675 per dollar touched during last week’s market mayhem and remaining well beyond the 38-year lows of 161.96 it was rooted to at the start of July.
Bouts of intervention from Tokyo early last month and then a surprise rate hike from the Bank of Japan at the end of July wrong-footed investors who bailed out of popular carry trades, lifting the yen.
Reporting by Laura Matthews in New York and Alun John in London; additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; editing by David Evans and Jonathan Oatis
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