Weekly Wrap-Up: Stats with Retail as the Driving Force

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The week ending on November 15 in the economic calendar was particularly busy with conflicting sentiments throughout the week.

Overall, the stats drove the market, with a total of 75 stats monitored this week, rising from the 51 stats in total from the previous week. Out of the 75 stats, 25 of them came out with optimistic values, larger than predicted, while the other 36 came out short of the forecast. Fourteen stats ended the week closely in line with the forecasts.

Based on the numbers by the end of the trading week, 30 out of the 75 stats showed an uptrend from their figures the previous week. From the remaining 45 stats, 34 showed a downward trend from previous figures.

With the conflicting sentiments and skewed stats towards trade, the dollar took a heat, falling by 0.36% to its $97.999 price mark for the week.

On the other hand, the wholesale inflation figures and the economic data for October were released later in the week. Despite the fact that the inflation’s core annual percentage dropped to 2.3% from the previous 2.4% rate, there was a 0.2% increase in consumer priced in October, following the 0.2% rise forecasted by economists after the 0.1% increase in September.

The consumer price index was also on the rise for October at 0.4% m/m, modestly higher from the 0.1% rise in September.

There was also a boost for the wholesale inflation, with a 0.4% rise in the Producer Price index. The 0.3% rise in the core Producer Price index was significant, reversing the previous 0.3% decline.

The main driver for the market this week is still the retail sales figures, which went up to 0.3%.

On the other hand, while the core retail sales got a 0.2% raise, it was significantly shorter from the 0.4% forecasted rise. Industrial production in October has also fallen by 0.8%, a bit steeper from the forecasted 0.4% drop.

The weekly price index for imports and exports, business inventories, and jobless claims have a seemingly muted effect on the price of the Dollar.

However, the forex world thought otherwise as the Greenback was left in the red mark for the week from the late slide that happened on Friday. It also happened despite the hopeful statements regarding the breakthrough in the trade agreement between the US and China.

From the conflicting statements throughout the week, with US President Trump saying that China’s failure to the demands of the US might lead to even more vindictive tariffs on Tuesday, and the FED Chair Powell saying on Wednesday that no further rate cuts will be imposed, the mixed updates have continued to affect the Greenback.