Strong US Retail Sales will only add to bid Dollar tone – ING

US Dollar Index refreshes five-month highs. Economists at ING analyze Greenback’s outlook ahead of the US Retail Sales report.

DXY to extend gains to the 104.00/104.25 area

A combination of weakish China data and a pushback by both ECB and Fed officials against early easing is weighing on risk sentiment and supporting the Dollar.

It is hard to see that sentiment changing today should US December Retail Sales come in on the strong side.

It was not our baseline call on Tuesday, but the US Dollar Index (DXY) did break resistance around 103.10/103.15 (now support) and the upside bias to US rates and a mixed risk environment warns of DXY extending to the 104.00/104.25 area.

See – US Retail Sales Preview: Forecasts from nine major banks, consumers continued spending in December