FOREX-Dollar up on Fed view, US sales data awaited

Tue May 13, 2008 12:06pm BST
 
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By Simon Falush

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - The dollar rose broadly on Tuesday as some investors speculated that the Federal Reserve may be nearing the end of its rate cutting cycle, while a fall in stock prices cranked up risk aversion, supporting the yen.

Traders awaited U.S. retail sales figures due at 1230 GMT for more clues about the Fed's policy outlook.

Some believe the U.S. central bank will pause its easing campaign after slashing borrowing costs by 325 basis points since September to 2 percent.

The data are expected to show a dip of 0.1 percent in retail sales in April due to a big drop in auto sales. Excluding autos, sales are forecast to rise 0.2 percent, slightly more than in March.

Doubts remain however on whether the U.S. government and Federal Reserve have done enough to get the U.S. economy back on track. The sales data due could reflect that, analysts said.

"I'm still looking for softer U.S. economic data, I'm waiting for the numbers to catch up with people's view that there is a recession in the U.S. in the first half of the year," said Niels Christensen, currency strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen.

The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.5461 <EUR=> by 1043 GMT. Against a basket of currencies the dollar was up 0.4 percent at 73.233 .DXY.  Continued...

 

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