EUR/USD: Economic Data being released on Wednesday

Retail Sales data reflects how much the American consumer is spending on goods at department stores, auto dealers, gas stations, and food and service providers. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the US’s economic activity, and retail sales makes up about one third of that. Important things to note about this indicator:

- Relevance = high
- This report is tricky because a strong consumer reflects that the economy is improving which would increase risk appetite, which has recently hurt the value of the dollar. A really strong number would indicate to the FED that they may need to firm up interest rates (bullish for the dollar). However, since the US has a rather large trade deficit, an increase in the demand of imports increases the value of the currencies used to purchase those products (dollar bearish).
- Due to how tricky this report is it would be prudent to wait for the volatility to decrease before actually taking a position.
- Release Schedule: 8:30 AM (EST); monthly