EUR/USD was rising during Friday’s trading session but has pared gains after the release of
Retail sales climbed by 1.9% in September, exceeding the median forecast of a 0.7% increase and the previous month’s 0.6% rate of growth. (Event A on the chart.)
Both industrial production and capacity utilization fell in September. Industrial production decreased by 0.6%, whereas analysts had predicted an increase at the same rate. The indicator rose by 0.4% in the preceding month. Capacity utilization decreased from 72.0% in August to 71.5% in September, while experts were expecting it to stay about unchanged. (Event B on the chart.)
Business inventories increased by 0.3% in August, matching forecasts exactly, after rising by 0.1% in July. (Event C on the chart.)
Michigan Sentiment Index rose to 81.2 in October from 80.4 in September according to the preliminary estimate. Market participants were expecting a small decrease to 80.2. (Event C on the chart.)
Federal budget balance shrank to $124.6 billion in September from $200.1 billion and was close to the consensus forecast of $123.3 billion. (Event D on the chart.)
Net foreign purchases were at $27.8 billion in August. That compared with the median forecast of $20.0 billion and the previous month’s figure of $11.3 billion. (Event E on the chart.)
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