Concerns about declines in the strong economic growth seen in recent months have emerged in the US, as the weak US Retail Sales data showed a drop in the US dollar on Monday. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the US currency against a group of major currencies, fell 0.22% to trade at 94.73 points.
The US Department of Commerce released Monday that core retail sales fell 0.1% in the United States in September, in contrast to the optimistic forecasts of both economists and market participants which were for 0.4%. Meanwhile, the retail sales group, which has a big impact on US gross domestic product, rose 0.5%, beating expectations of a 0.3% rise. This means that the purchasing power of consumers in the third quarter of the year rose by 3.6%, after jumping more in the second quarter by 3.8%. Economists predict that tax cuts will not continue and consumption is expected to increase by 3% in the fourth quarter of the year.
The US Dollar was further pressured by both GBP and EUR, as markets and investors received pessimistic news of stalled Brexit talks as well as financial tensions between the EU and Italy. UK Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to the Parliament and mentioned that the talks were progressing, but the issue of border demarcation with the Republic of Ireland was a stumbling block to the talks, which were temporarily suspended.
The US dollar was not able to find signs of possible gains mostly because of dollar-denominated profit-taking, despite the failure of the Brexit talks, the ongoing EU-Italy disputes, and falling stock prices at the beginning of the week.
The British Pound was up against the US Dollar at 0.09%, with GBP / USD trading at $1.3167 / GBP. The single currency rose against the US dollar by 0.28% with the EUR / USD pair trading at $1.1591 per euro. The US dollar also fell against the Canadian dollar by 0.48%, which led the pair to rise to 1.2965 CAD per US dollar, hours after the release of new optimistic forecasts from the Bank of Canada.
The lack of clarity on Wall Street and the volatility in US equities led to a safe haven currency gain against the US dollar, with the USD / JPY dropping 0.34% to trade at 111.84 yen per dollar.
The Turkish lira also rose against the US dollar, reaching a two-month high after the release of US pastor Andrew Brunson on Friday.
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