The USD fell victim to the statistics. Overview for 17.05.2021

EURUSD rose pretty much and is currently consolidating in anticipation of the news. 

The major currency pair was actively growing earlier and is currently consolidating not far from its reached targets. The current quote for the instrument is 1.2129.

So, the statistics on the American retail sales weren’t in favor of the “greenback” and helped other traded currencies to strengthen. In April, the indicator showed no changes if compared with the March reading. At the same time, the revised March data says that the indicator added 10.7% m/m. The expected reading for April was 1.0% m/m and could indicate some kind of a balance but the reality turned out to be worse. 

It’s quite clear that the March reading was caused by consumer stimulus checks from the government to support the country’s economy. Still, the April decline turned out to be much worse than expected but May and June may show another surge in consumer interest after the opening of borders and many sectors of the country’s economy. As soon as the economic system starts actively getting back to its pre-covid state, consumers will start spending more. 

The Industrial Production in the USA added 0.7% m/m in April after skyrocketing by 2.4% m/m the month before. Another report, the Capacity Utilization Rate, showed 74.9% after being 74.4% in the previous month. 

However, there was one more unpleasant surprise for the USD on Friday. A preliminary report on the Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan showed 82.8 points in May after being 88.3 points in April and against the expected reading of 90.2 points. It means that the population is really worried about increases in prices for goods and services because inflation expectations significantly boosted. This bothers Americans despite deferred demand and quite high levels of personal savings.