FRX: EUR/USD rally stalls after euro zone retail sales data
Forex Pros – The euro's recent rally against the U.S. dollar stalled on Thursday after official data showed that retail sales in euro zone in April posted their sharpest monthly drop for 18 months.
EUR/USD hit 1.228 during European late morning trade, gaining 0.25%, after retreating from 1.2327, a 2-day high.
The pair was likely to find short-term support at 1.2111, Tuesday's low and a 4-year low, and resistance at 1.2453, last Friday's high.
Earlier in the day, Eurostat, the EU statistics office, said sales volumes in the euro zone sagged 1.2% from a month earlier, the sharpest drop since October 2008.
The single European currency jumped versus the yen on Thursday, meanwhile, with EUR/JPY advancing 0.76% to reach 113.73.
Later Thursday, the data processing firm ADP was due to publish a key monthly report on employment in the U.S. private sector. The U.S. Labor Department was also scheduled to release data on initial jobless claims, an important indicator of overall economic health.
