Currency Note US Dollar

US Dollar has a “bad” week

By Ricky Bean April 17th, 2015

It has not been a great week for the US dollar, as we have seen the majority of this week’s data disappoint as the US continues its fight against a slowdown in the economy. Retail sales in the US showed a slight increase but below forecast.

Wednesday saw a host of data releases, which did not help, with continued US dollar weakness as the Empire State manufacturing index and industrial production both showed decline. US Federal Reserve member Lacker gave a hawkish speech on Wednesday, stating his support for starting an interest rate rise in June, which would help push the US out of their current slowdown. Weekly unemployment claims on Thursday showed weaker than expected figures, which could affect the Non-Farm employment figure due at the start of May.

Consumer inflation is expected to remain stable against the previous month. However, we could see this drop further, as the US economy starts to struggle. This will be followed by an indicator as to consumer spending, which is expected to increase slightly. Any surprises could cause movement in US dollar markets.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is meeting today, as the IMF looks to discuss the current Greek bailout extension; this is expected to run over the weekend.