15 Apr 2014
USD extends its bullish momentum - BTMU
FXStreet (Barcelona) - Lee Hardman, FX Analyst at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, remarks the USD strength post-US retail sales.
Key Quotes
"The US dollar has held on to gains in the Asian trading session recorded yesterday after the release of the stronger than expected US retail sales report for March. The report provided further reassuring evidence that the US economy is rebounding after the weather-related economic slowdown in early Q1."
"Retail sales expanded by 1.1% in March which was the largest monthly increase since September 2012, and retail sales growth in February was also revised up by 0.4 percentage point to 0.7%. As a result it is likely that personal consumption expanded by an annualized rate of around 2.0% in Q1 with growth momentum likely to strengthen further in Q2."
"It supports view that the recent slowdown in US economic growth was only temporary with real GDP growth likely to accelerate back towards an annualized rate of around 3.0% during the rest of 2014. However, the reports initial positive impact upon the US dollar has been fairly modest reflecting investor expectations that the Fed will only continue to normalize monetary policy very gradually in the year ahead."
Key Quotes
"The US dollar has held on to gains in the Asian trading session recorded yesterday after the release of the stronger than expected US retail sales report for March. The report provided further reassuring evidence that the US economy is rebounding after the weather-related economic slowdown in early Q1."
"Retail sales expanded by 1.1% in March which was the largest monthly increase since September 2012, and retail sales growth in February was also revised up by 0.4 percentage point to 0.7%. As a result it is likely that personal consumption expanded by an annualized rate of around 2.0% in Q1 with growth momentum likely to strengthen further in Q2."
"It supports view that the recent slowdown in US economic growth was only temporary with real GDP growth likely to accelerate back towards an annualized rate of around 3.0% during the rest of 2014. However, the reports initial positive impact upon the US dollar has been fairly modest reflecting investor expectations that the Fed will only continue to normalize monetary policy very gradually in the year ahead."