• MTS Economic News_20160516

    16 May 2016 | Economic News



 



The dollar was steady at 108.685 yen JPY= after spiking briefly on Friday to 109.57, its highest since late April, in reaction to the strong U.S. data. The euro was flat at $1.1314 EUR= after slipping to a two-week low of $1.1283 on Friday.

With the U.S. economic outlook "definitely looking good," the U.S. central bank is on the cusp of deciding whether to raise rates at any of its next few meetings, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said on Friday.

"I view the balancing act as very similar to the balancing act that kind of led to the first rate increase. ... We have to be making the decision. Do we want to wait a little longer or act now?" Williams told reporters after a speech at the Sacramento Economic Forum.

Two to three rate increases this year "definitely still makes sense," he said.

Sales at retailers jumped in April by the most in a year, indicating consumer spending will help the U.S. economy recover from an early-year slowdown.

Purchases climbed 1.3 percent last month, the biggest gain since March 2015, after a 0.3 percent March drop that was smaller than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed Friday in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.8 percent gain.

Consumer confidence in the U.S. jumped in May to the highest level in almost a year, propelled by the strongest views on inflation-adjusted income gains in a decade.

The University of Michigan’s preliminary index of sentiment rose to 95.8, the highest since June, from 89 in April. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey called for 89.5.

The measure of the outlook over the next few years jumped by the most since 2006.

U.S. producer prices rose in April as energy prices increased, but a marginal gain in the cost of services pointed to a moderate increase in inflation in the coming months.

The Labor Department said on Friday its producer price index climbed 0.2 percent last month after slipping 0.1 percent in March. In the 12 months through April, the PPI was unchanged after dipping 0.1 percent in March.

The US dollar surged to a more than two-week high against a basket of currencies following stronger-than-expected US economic data, putting pressure on oil prices, which fell after three days of gains.

U.S. crude oil futures settled down 49 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $46.21 a barrel, but held a weekly gain of nearly 3.5 percent. Earlier, Baker Hughes said U.S. oil rigs fell by 10.

A three-day run for oil prices came to a halt as the stronger dollar weighed and investors cashed in on recent gains. A stronger US currency weighs on greenback-denominated commodities such as oil futures. Losses were cushioned by outages in Nigeria that have slashed output there to the lowest in 22 years.


Reference: Reuters, CNBC, Bloomberg

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