The US dollar hit its intra-day high against the Euro on Friday, helped by the better-than-expected US retail sales figures reported earlier and the Michigan Consumer Confidence Index, which improved from March's 89.0 to 95.8 points in May. Thus, the Euro traded lower against the Greenback at $1.1320 by 15:30 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
The University of Michigan's preliminary Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 95.8 in May, following April's 89.0 points and registering the highest result since last year. Until today, analysts expected the Index to improve to 90.0 points. Meanwhile, the survey's index of actual economic conditions increased from 108.6 to 106.7, whereas its consumer expectations' index grew from 77.6 to 87.5
US business stockpiles rose by 0.4% in March, which includes retailers, wholesale merchants and manufacturers. The reading is the highest since August 2015 and came well above the 0.2% estimate. Data on growth of inventories in February remained unrevised and stayed at 0.1%.
Wall Street started trading slightly lower on Friday, as Apple drove down markets on Thursday. Investors cheered for the strong increase of US April retail sales. Standard & Poor's 500 decreased 0.1% to 2,061.61 points and Dow Jones also lost 0.1% to 17,703.00 points, while NASDAQ joined them and slid down 0.1% to 4,732.00.
April came with a resurrection of consumer spending shown in just released US retail sales numbers. Total retail sales on monthly basis increased 1.3%, which is the sharpest jump in 13 months, and it surpassed forecast of 0.8% by analysts. Retail sales were boosted by auto dealers and gasoline stations, which saw a second surge in gas prices.
After sanctions on Iran were lifted, this crude oil producer ramped up production to regain their market share and now reached pre-sanction levels of November 2011. International Energy Agency reports, that Iranian oil output in April was 3.56 million barrels per day. 2 million of those were exports.
The Australian Dollar encountered the deepest plunge since March 2 on Friday, following speculation on further rate cuts by the RBA. The Aussie traded 0.7% cheaper against the US Dollar and showed $0.7278 at 7:30 GMT. The currency has already plummeted by 6% over the last month, prompted by the aggravated inflation outlook.
Investors prepared for negative trading session in New York on Friday, as most expect fall in US retail sales in April. Futures of equity in New York fell before weekend. Standard & Poor's 500 index decreased 0.4% and moved to 2,050.40 points before market opening. Asian stocks finished days trading lower and European markets moved in the same direction.
Growth in Euro Zone in 2016 first quarter was better than previous quarter, but still lower than estimated previously. On a quarter-to-quarter basis the European economy strengthened by 0.5% and 1.5% compared on a year-to-year basis to same period in 2015. Annual growth was also a 0.1% less than expected.
On Thursday, the Sterling appreciated against the Greenback and rallied above the 1.45 dollar level, but fell soon afterwards around 100 pips on Friday. The UK currency lost 0.3% against the Buck and was trading at 1.4413 dollars by 8:45 GMT. Important US data on retail sales, producers' prices and consumer sentiment is due to be released on Friday that
Italian Gross Domestic Product data for last quarter was published on Friday, and the report shows another quarter of steady and slow growth. Last quarter GDP growth was 0.3%, as predicted by analysts, but previous quarter data has been revised and set to 0.2% instead of 0.1% published initially. Italy had 0.3% growth to no growth for past two years.
Treasury prices reached a one-month high, as foreigners enhanced their 10-year bond investments, pushing the yields down by 3.5 bps to show 1.729%. Accepted bid amounts were topped 2.68 times, which lined up with the latest trends. However, extraordinarily high activity in the treasury market was made up by foreign investors.
Stocks in Asia traded lower, because Japanese exchanges were affected by a rising yen. In the meantime, commodities dragged down Australian markets. Nikkei 225 index ended trading 1.4% down at 16,412.21 and Topix fell 1.3% at 1,320.19 on close of trading. Main movers were Pioneer and Tokuyama, which fell by 12% and 31% of their value, respectively.
Markets opened low on Friday, taking over the negative sentiment from Asian bourses, where focus was directed towards data on earnings and economics. The DAX 30 index took a 0.76% plunge to show 9,784.80 points, whilst the UK's FTSE 100 dropped 0.35% and opened at 6,083.30 points.
The Euro traded cheaper against the dollar during the session on Friday, sliding by 0.25% to show $1.1350, and volatility is anticipated during the rest of the session, as EU GDP data comes out. The initial price drop was evoked by the data release on German inflation and GDP figures, conveying mixed signals about the economic health of Eurozone's largest
Crude fell from its 2016 heights reached on Thursday because of a huge inventory build-up in Cushing, Oklahoma where bases itself one of the top delivery hubs. Stockpiles there grew by nearly 550,000 barrels and it offset positive outlook given by International Energy Agency. WTI Futures fell 0.8% to $46.33 per barrel and Brent slipped 0.7% to $47.76 per barrel.
Euro zone's country with strongest economy grew at the start of 2016 more than forecasted by analysts. German quarterly gross domestic product seasonally adjusted grew 0.7%, while predictions were at 0.6% increase of GDP. European Commission's Spring Economic Forecast shows future growth in Germany at 1.6% in 2016 and 2017.
BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda claimed to be ready to use additional quantitative easing measures in order to reach the targeted 2% inflation level during fiscal 2017. The negative interest rates along with QQE measures will presumably increase yearly inflation expectations to the targeted 2%. It is expected that the CPI will amount to 0.5% in fiscal year 2016, showing a
Destatis published latest CPI report on Friday, indicating at deflation in Germany on year-to-year basis for the past month. Consumer prices decreased 0.1% in April, but 0.1% increase was forecasted by surveyed Analysts, and previously in March CPI rose by 0.3%. Germany has not had deflation since January 2015.
Inflation report released today revealed another month of falling prices in France. Living expenses in the Euro zone's second biggest economy, measured by the Consumers Price Index and compared to same period last year, decreased by 0.2%. Meanwhile, on a month-to-month basis CPI rose 0.1%.
After a surge of Japanese exports this March, Japan's current account surplus increased to the highest levels in 9 years. Surplus moved from 2.43 trillion yen in February to 2.98 trillion yen in March. It is the largest positive value since March 2007, but still on par with forecast issued by the Ministry of Finance. Exports rose from 5.64 trillion
Europe's largest stock markets closed Thursday's trading session in red. Germany's DAX 30 Index lost around 1.2%, finishing at 9,857.38, while Britain's FTSE 200 Index dropped almost 1.0%, closing at 6,101.46 points. Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 Index fell 0.5% to 4,293.99, and the Euro Stoxx 50 Index declined 0.8%, closing today's trading session at 2,934.54 points.
On Thursday, the Greenback traded higher against the Euro despite the higher-than-expected rise in the number of initial jobless claims reported earlier. The Euro dropped 0.15% to $1.1408, whereas the US Dollar Index added 0.09% to 93.89 points by 14:00 GMT on the NYSE, but below its two-week high of 94.22 seen at the beginning of the week.
The major US stock markets traded mixed during Thursday's session amid the release of disappointing jobless claims data and Apple's losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index traded flat at 2,064.50, whereas the Dow Jones Index added 0.02%, trading at 17,714.80, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.26%, trading at 4,748.50 points by 14:25 GMT.