10th Apr 2015 18:19
WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - The dollar has been staging a recovery against its major competitors for the majority of the trading week. However, that recovery has begun to stall out Friday afternoon. The US currency is giving back some its early gains against the Euro and the pound sterling and is even losing ground against the Japanese Yen.
After reporting a modest rebound in US import prices in the previous month, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing that import prices moved back to the downside in the month of March.
The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.3% in March after edging up by a revised 0.2% in February. The pullback in prices matched economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the report also said export prices inched up by 0.1% in March following a revised 0.2% drop in February. Economists had expected export prices to slip by 0.2%.
While this week has been relatively light in terms of economic data, the upcoming week is loaded with data. Investors can look forward to readings on retail sales, industrial production, PPI, CPI and consumer sentiment, just to name a few. The Fed will also release the Beige book next week Wednesday.
The dollar climbed to a 3-week high of USD1.0567 against the Euro Friday, but has eased back to around USD1.0590 this afternoon. The US currency began the trading week around the USD1.10 level.
Germany's manufacturing turnover declined for the first time in three months in February, Destatis reported Friday. Manufacturing turnover fell 0.7% month-on-month in February reversing a 0.8% rise seen each in January and December. This was the first drop in three months.
French industrial production and manufacturing output remained unchanged in February, the statistical office Insee reported Friday. Industrial production showed nil growth in February after rising 0.3% in January and 1.5% in December. Economists had forecast output to fall 0.1%.
The buck broke out to over a 4-year high of USD1.4586 against the pound sterling Friday, but has since retreated to around USD1.4635. The dollar began the trading week around the USD1.50 level.
UK industrial production logged a marginal growth in February as the expansion in manufacturing was largely offset by a decline in oil and gas output, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed Friday.
Industrial output rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in February, offsetting January's 0.1% fall. This was the first rise in three months but the rate was weaker than a 0.3% growth forecast by economists.
The greenback has pulled back to around Y120.185 against the Japanese Yen this afternoon, from yesterday's 3-week high of around Y120.700.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX