Breaking: US core retail sales beat expectations, USD edges higher

Yohay Elam FXStreet

US retail sales came out at 0.3% as expected but core sales beat expectations with 0.5% and the all-important control group rose by 0.5% compared with 0.4% projected.

On the other hand, some of November's figures were revised to the downside. Nevertheless, upbeat consumption continues driving the US economy forward, while manufacturing is struggling.

In a separate report, The Philly Fed Manufacturing Index jumped to 17 points, beating expectations and weekly Unemployment Claims were also better than expected with a drop to 204K

The US dollar is on the rise. EUR/USD is falling off the highs and trading below 1.1160. GBP/USD is closer to 1.3050, and USD/JPY has recaptured 110.

The report for December includes Christmas shopping and also Black Friday figures – as the shopping festivity came out late in 2019. Consumption is around 70% of the US economy.

The figures feed into growth estimates for the fourth quarter. Preliminary Gross Domestic figures are due out toward the end of January.

Author

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

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