European Session – Dollar extends rally on drop in US jobless claims, sterling erases post UK retail sales gains
Posted on May 19, 2016 at 1:32 pm GMTSterling outperformed early in the European session today despite a stronger dollar that was boosted by hawkish FOMC minutes. The pound was lifted by solid UK retail sales data which showed volumes were up 1.3% month-on-month in April from a revised -0.5% in March and also beat expectations for a 0.5% increase. Year-on-year, sales rose 4.3%. The upbeat data suggest that consumer confidence appears strong in the UK despite uncertainty of the outcome of the Brexit referendum in June. Meanwhile, [..]