North American Summary and Highlights 14 February
Overview - The USD was marginally softer in Europe, and losses accelerated after weak US retail sales data.
North American session
January US retail sales were significantly weaker than expected, falling by 0.9% overall, by 0.4% ex autos and 0.5% ex autos and gasoline. UST yields dipped in response, and USD/JPY saw a quick slide from 152.75 to near 152 before a modest correction. The USD saw weakness elsewhere, but the moves were more gradual, with EUR/USD seeing highs above 1.05, GBP/USD seeing highs above 1.26 and AUD/USD moving above 0.6350. USD/CAD saw only marginal losses, finding support at 1.4150.
After the retail sales report, January US industrial production saw a 0.5% rise overall but a 0.1% decline in manufacturing. The afternoon saw Trump threaten auto tariffs in early April.
European morning session
The USD was marginally softer in a quiet European morning, maintaining the losses seen overnight, with GBP, CHF and AUD edging up around 0.1% but EUR, JPY and CAD little changed.
Newswise, there was a small upward revision in Eurozone Q4 GDP to 0.1% q/q, with employment also up 0.1% on the quarter, while German WPI was up a larger than expected 0.9% in January, but in general the market was quiet, awaiting further tariff news and the US data later.