Forex: Monday’s review

Yesterday the yen weakened against all 16 most-traded counterparts after a report showed that U.S. retail sales in September rose more than expected, which reduced the demand for safe assets. Sales increased by 1.1% m / m in August from a revised value of 1.2% m / m, which was the highest since October 2010. Analysts had forecast an increase of 0.8%.

The euro was little changed against the dollar at a time when data showed that manufacturing activity index of the New York Fed Empire State shows decline in activity for the third month in a row. At the same time, in August, the growth of business inventories in the U.S. has slowed, suggesting that the sudden rise of sales begins to contribute to the devastation of accumulated reserves.

The shared currency touched a one-week high against the yen after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said a Greek default “will not happen.” In addition, Schaeuble urged central banks to monitor the inflation risks associated with excess liquidity. The Minister stressed that we should not forget that the excess liquidity was one of the causes of the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

The focus of market participants summit of EU leaders to be held on 18-19 October in Brussels, which will discuss the problem of possible request for assistance from Spain and providing aid to Greece.

Pound earlier fell against the euro on expectations that inflation in the UK slowed in the last month. The annual rate of inflation in the UK is forecast down to 2.2% in September from 2.5% in August. But is it really so we will know after the publication of official data.