The US dollar fell the most in a month as reports broadened evidence of a soft patch for the US economy and clouded the outlook for the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
The US currency slid as traders reassessed the extent of US outperformance versus the world on economic growth. The greenback declined versus the 19-nation currency as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi endured a confetti-throwing protester to predict the region’s recovery would “broaden and strengthen.”
“The growth side of things is not yet materializing this year to the Fed’s liking,” said David Donabedian, chief investment officer in Atlanta at Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management. “The consensus has moved from they’re going to raise in June to they’re going to raise in September to some people saying it may be even later than that. And that’s a reason right there to sell the dollar.”
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the US currency against 10 major peers, slipped 1.6 percent this week, the most since the period ending March 20, to 1,185.36 in New York. The index has gained 4.8 percent this year, after increasing 11 percent last year.
The US dollar declined 1.9 percent this week to US$1.0806 per euro and 1.1 percent to ¥118.90.
The greenback fell amid a passel of weaker-than-forecast economic data. US retail sales trailed projections for a fourth-straight month, industrial production dropped and jobless claims increased more than predicted. A release on Friday that showed core inflation inched higher for a third consecutive month only halted the greenback’s losses.
Bloomberg’s index of US economic surprises, which measures whether analysts over or underestimate, slumped to its lowest level in six years. The reports muddy the outlook for the Fed to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006.
Net bullish bets for the US dollar to strengthen against eight major counterparts by hedge funds and money managers fell to the least since October, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Futures positions betting on a stronger greenback were at 329,939 contracts as of Tuesday.
“We’ve seen the dollar rally slow on the back of weaker growth,” Robert McAdie, the London-based head of research and strategy at BNP Paribas SA, said at a press briefing in New York on Wednesday. “The markets got a little too euphoric around the broad scale growth pickup in the US. Growth is picking up, but not picking up aggressively.”
Meanwhile, the pound posted its biggest weekly gain versus the US dollar in almost two years as data signaling UK economic strength overshadowed concern caused by a looming election that is still too close to call.
Sterling strengthened against 13 of its 16 major counterparts this week, as an Office for National Statistics report on Friday showed accelerating UK wage growth. That capped a week in which data signaled retail sales rose last month.
The pound rose 2.1 percent this week to US$1.4978 as of 5pm in London on Friday, when it touched US$1.5054, the highest since March 18. That is the biggest weekly gain versus the US currency since June 7, 2013. Sterling appreciated 0.4 percent from April 10 to £0.7216 per euro.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained