Binary Options News : August 15, 2012

Unexpected Rise in US Retail Sales Figures Boosts USD

US

The USD posted gains against most major currencies in Asian trading as a surprise increase in core retail sales figures pleased markets and fuelled hopes that the Federal Reserve may hold back on expected plans to stimulate the delicate US economy. The U.S. Commerce Department posted retail sales figures that increased 0.8% in July following on from a 0.7% decline in June. This beat market expectations for a 0.3% gain and was the first gain in four months.

The gains in the USD were pegged back by lower profit forecasts by a number of large companies across the globe. However the USD rose by 0.05% against the JPY, it posted a 0.02% increase against the GBP and a 0.10% gain against the commodity linked AUD.

Asia

Asian stocks fell overnight as investors sold on disappointing earnings forecasts and results, though the better than expected U.S. retail sales figures offset the falls. Social networking site Gree fell short of estimates, whilst China Life Insurance declined on slumping revenue. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.12%, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 dropped 0.48%, whilst Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.19%.

Europe

The eurozone contracted 0.2% in the 3 months from April to June compared with the zero growth in the previous quarter. Germany, the powerhouse of Europe rose by 0.3% in Q2whilst the French economy posted zero growth in the period, beating expectations for a 0.1% contraction. Tempering the positive sentiment was the news that Portugal’s GDP contracted 1.2%, Cyprus posting a 0.8% contraction and Italy shrinking 0.7%.

Today’s Outlook

In what promises to be a busy day’s trading, binary options traders will first focus on the UK where key unemployment figures are released and then switch the focus to the US where key CPI figures, industrial production and manufacturing index figures are all released.

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