US Dollar sits at 18-month tops, around mid-97.00s ahead of US retail sales

   •  A sudden fall in the shared currency helped gain strong traction.
   •  The prevalent risk-off mood helped offset weaker US bond yields.
   •  Traders now eye the US monthly retails sales data for fresh impetus.
 
The US Dollar regained positive traction on the last trading day of the week and is currently placed at 18-month tops, around mid-97.00s.

The USD demand picked up pace since the early European trading session and turned out to be one of the key beneficiaries of dismal Euro-zone PMI-led steep fall in the shared currency.

This coupled with a fresh wave of global risk-aversion trade, triggered by weaker than expected Chinese macro data, further underpinned the greenback’s relative safe-haven status and remained supportive of the strong intraday up-move.

Meanwhile, the ongoing slide in the US Treasury bond yields, amid uncertainty over the Fed’s rate hike path in 2019, did little to hinder the ongoing positive momentum but might now contribute towards keeping gains in check.

The index now seems to have entered a bullish consolidation phase as market participants now look forward to the US economic docket, highlighting the release of monthly retail sales data for some fresh bullish impetus.

Technical levels to watch