USD Overview (19 October 2020)

Last Friday, USD weakened against most major currencies except AUD and CHF.

The retail sales m/m data released last Friday indicated a strong increase in consumer spending in September. This is likely due to the spending of the temporarily $300 supplement added to unemployment benefits.

• Core Retail Sales m/m (Actual: 1.5%, Forecast: 0.4%, Previous: 0.5% revised from 0.7%)
  
• Retail Sales m/m (Actual: 1.9%, Forecast: 0.7%, Previous: 0.6%)
  

The Preliminary UoM Consumer Sentiment data (Actual: 81.2, Forecast: 80.2, Previous: 80.4 revised from 78.9) released indicated a slight increase in the level of confidence of 500 surveyed consumers on the current and future economic conditions.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell will be speaking later at 2000 (SGT). During this time, there may be volatility in USD.