- Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University professor, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
While the single currency was pushed lower by dovish comments from the ECB officials, the greenback benefitted from stronger-than-expected U.S. fundamentals. Both wholesale inventories and the number of new job openings offered a more optimistic outlook for the world's largest economy.
A report from the Commerce Department showed that wholesale inventories climbed 1.1% in April, following the same rise a month earlier, outstripping predictions for a modest 0.5% growth. While wholesale inventories are having muted impact on the greenback and markets, it is a key component of gross domestic product changes. At the same time, a report showed the component that goes into the calculation of the economic output– wholesale stock stripping out autos, posted a 1.1% increase. Sales at American wholesalers climbed 1.3% over the same period, following a 1.6% increase in the prior month.
A separate report showed that there were posted 4.5 million job openings on the last business day of the fourth month. This is 0.3 million more than a month earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Both reports are suggesting we will see a sharp acceleration in growth in the second quarter.
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