Major stock markets, which reached record levels this week, saw a slight downturn Thursday, and the U.S. dollar edged up slightly after a rough start to the week. Despite the larger-than-expected drop in Crude Oil Inventories in the United States last week, WTI crude oil lost 1.2%.
In Europe, the pound sterling was volatile on Thursday and finally saw a substantial jump as tough talks between Great Britain and the European Union concerning Brexit are in full swing.
The trend for the U.S. dollar will be dictated today by important inflation data and retail sales numbers, which will be posted this morning. No doubt the after-effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma will be felt. Supply interruptions in refineries have driven up gas prices and by extension, service station revenue. Despite these temporary factors, we anticipate solid numbers, which should be favourable to the greenback.
Mark Donohue
Range of the day: 1.2400 – 1.2560