The US dollar traded almost unchanged after yesterday’s decline on weak economic data from the United States. The US Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell by 0.3% after rising 0.1% in July. Sales rose by 1.9% compared to last year. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services sales declined by 0.1% after falling 0.1% in July. It was expected that total sales will fall by 0.1%, while core sales to rise by 0.3%.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that initial applications for unemployment benefits rose by 1.000 to reach a seasonally adjusted 260,000 for the week ended September 10. Economists had forecast that claims will rise to 265 000. This was the 80 th week in a row with claims below 300 000, the longest period since 1970.
These data led investors to doubt that the US economy is strong enough to withstand a rate hike in the coming months. According to Fed futures the probability of a rate hike in December is 46% compared to slightly more than 53% a day earlier. The probability of a rate hike at the next meeting, to be held September 20-21, is only 12% compared to more than 15% on Wednesday.
Today at 12:30 GMT data on the US consumer price index will be published. According to the average forecast, prices are expected rose by 0.1% after flat in July.
EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in the $ 1.1235-50 range
GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in the $ 1.3220-45 range
USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in the Y101.70-10 range
The post Asian session review: tight ranges before US CPI appeared first on forex-analytics.press.