Dollar retreats after weaker than expected sales report - 15.4.2015

US stocks upped on Tuesday after higher oil prices lifted energy shares and quarterly reports outperformed modest expectations. The S&P 500 closed 0.2% higher as energy stocks rallied, while technology shares lagged behind. Today Bank of America, Delta Air Lines and Netflix will report their first-quarter earnings. Investors brushed off weaker than expected economic reports. Retail sales rebounded in March after declining for three consecutive months, but the 0.9% increase was lower than the expected 1.1% rise. Producer prices rose 0.2% in March after four straight monthly declines, below the expected 0.3% increase. The small-business index for March fell to its lowest reading in nine months. February business inventories grew 0.3%. The dollar fell as retail sales missed expectations, with the ICE dollar index falling 0.75 percent. Today at 12:00 CET Mortgage Applications will be released in US. At 13:30 CET New York State Manufacturing Index for April will be released. The tentative outlook is negative for the dollar. At 14:15 CET March Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization will be published. The tentative outlook is negative. At 15:00 CET April Housing Market Index will be released by NAHB. The tentative outlook is positive for the dollar. At 19:00 CET Federal Reserve Beige Book will be released.

European stocks slipped after five sessions of gains as Greek debt problems were back in focus again. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras denied the country was preparing to default on some of its debt payments if it failed to reach an agreement with its creditors. The Stoxx Europe 600 closed down 0.5%, Athex Composite fell 2.2%, DAX fell 0.9%. The euro traded higher against the dollar. Economic reports indicated euro-zone industrial production rose 1.1% in February from January. The International Monetary Fund raised its growth forecast for euro-zone to 1.5% for 2015, from a previous estimate of 1.2%, citing positive effects of lower oil prices, low interest rates, and a weaker euro. Shares of Alcatel-Lucent surged 16% after reports Finland’s Nokia is in advanced talks to buy the company. At 12:45 CET the European Central Bank rate decision will be announced. The ECB is expected to hold the interest rate unchanged. And at 13:30 CET the ECB press conference will start.

Nikkei edged down 0.2 % today as investors took profits on recent gainers such as drugmakers while the chip-maker shares fell as Intel announced 13% cut in capital expenditures this year. The market didn’t react to reports from China indicating the economic growth slowed to 7 % in the first quarter. Tomorrow at 00:50 CET the Bank of Japan will release data on financial transactions related to purchases of domestic and foreign stocks and bonds.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday on news Iran has called on OPEC to curb production and expectations for a decline in US shale oil production. The call comes after OPEC increased its March output by 800,000 barrels a day from February to 30.72 million barrels a day. US Energy Department Monday report indicated US shale oil output is expected to fall by 57 thousand barrels a day in May. Today at 15:30 CET Crude Oil inventories will be released in US, stockpiles are expected to rise.

Gold prices fell as investors weighed the timing of an interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve but losses were contained by weaker-than-expected rebound in US retail sales.