Dollar rises ahead of US retail sales data

The US dollar rose on Friday, to resume its gains after two days, lifted renewed hopes about the US economic recovery after upbeat jobs data, and ahead of the US retail sales reading for July.

The dollar index rose over 0.2% to 93.41 points, after opening at 93.22, and hitting a session-low of 93.16.

The index lost 0.2% yesterday, its second straight daily loss, but it was reduced from 0.5% after the release of strong data in the US.

The US Department of Labor revealed yesterday that the unemployment claims fell to 963,000 during the past week, beating forecasts of 1.120 million in a positive sign for the US labor market.

Investors are anticipating the release of the US retail sales, which is one of the most important gauges of consumer spending that accounts for 70% of the US GDP, which delivers key insight on the US economy's recovery from the coronavirus effects.

The US retail sales monthly reading will be released at 12:30 GMT, with forecasts for a rise by 2% in July vs. 7.5% in June, and the core reading for the same index (excluding car sales) is expected to also rise by 1.3% vs. 7.3%.

At 13:15 GMT, the US economy will release the industrial production monthly reading, with forecasts to rise by 3.1% in July vs. 5.4% in June, and the capacity utilization rate is expected to reach 70.3% vs. 68.6% in June.