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Currency Markets

US Retail Sector Remains Bullish

C

Christopher Gutfreund

Founder · 15 August 2019

Currencies Covered:

USD

Data from the US Census Bureau has shown a 0.7% growth within the US retail sector over the past month, outperforming the 0.3% market expectation.

Thursday 15th August 2019 - 13:37 (BST)

Data from the US Census Bureau has shown a 0.7% growth within the US retail sector over the past month, outperforming the 0.3% market expectation. Elsewhere, figures published by the US Department of Labor indicated a slight increase in first-time claimants for state unemployment insurance, up around 19,000 over the past month.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, the UK also posted strong retail figures - outperforming the market expectation of a 0.2% monthly contraction with 0.2% growth. Whilst the year-on-year figure of 3.3% was significantly better than the 2.6% anticipated. Analysts sited the recent poor weather driving consumers to the shops over the traditionally quieter Summer months combined with an online spending boom of nearly 7%.

All of the above has seen GBP/USD exchange rate rebound from the $1.20 lows seen over the past 7 days.

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