A busy end to the week coming up, with focus again centred on the US.

The euro’s struggles continue as it weakened again overnight. The EURUSD opened at $1.08724 and was flat early before ticking up to a high of $1.0883 mid-session. It fell from those highs shortly afterwards, hitting lows of $1.08334 late in the day. It is not far off those lows and is currently trading at $108385. The GBPUSD re-entered $1.30 territory overnight after opening at $1.29584. The pair was steady early, dipping to lows of $1.29435 mid-session. The pound rallied off those lows, peaking at $1.30687 late in the day. It has come off those highs and is now trading at $1.30388.

The Dow fell away from record highs during yesterday’s session, taking a break from the recent rallies. The index began the day at 29,541.80 and edged up to a high of 29,56.95 in the opening hour of trade. The first half of the day saw the Dow decline to lows of 29,260.19 before a rally erased a large chunk of its earlier losses. It is now trading at 29,412.50. The Dax opened and closed rather flat but was heavily influenced by the Dow throughout. The German index started the day at 13,740.83 and lifted to highs of 13,765.43 early in the day. A sharp sell-off saw the Dax tumble to lows of 13,576.27. It bounced off those lows and regained just about all of its losses and is now trading at 13,730.61

The US will be the centre of attention once again as it releases some crucial economic data. It will be publishing Retail and Core Retail Sales figures later tonight in what shapes up to be an interesting night for markets. Retail Sales are tipped to grow by 0.3%, in line with the previous figure, while Core Retail Sales are expected to also grow at 0.3%, which is down from 0.7% recorded at the last reading.

Other data published today includes:

Japan – Tertiary Industry Activity

China – New Loans, M2 Money Supply

Europe – German Prelim GDP and WPI, Swiss PPI, Italian Trade Balance, European Trade Balance, Flash GDP and Flash Employment Change

US – Import Prices, Capacity Utilisation Rate, Industrial Production, Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment & Inflation Expectations, Business Inventories, FOMC Member Loretta Mester speaks

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