American focus: the US dollar rose

The US dollar showed gains against major currencies in thin trade as investors have focused on the upcoming Thursday statement, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. Sentiment on the dollar remained fragile amid fears that the US mixed economic reports and instability in global financial markets will force the US central bank to revise the terms of rise in interest rates this Thursday.

On Friday, data showed that the consumer confidence index from the University of Michigan fell to 85.7 from 91.9 in July, compared with forecasts of a decline to 91.2. Also, the US Labor Department reported that producer price index was unchanged last month after rising in July by 0.2%.

The Fed chief Yellen stated that increasing interest rates depends on the economic indicators, however, it also pointed out that the bank plans to raise interest rates before the end of this year.

Little support for the euro earlier had data on industrial production in the eurozone. Statistical Office Eurostat said that the seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production in the eurozone rose in July by 0.6%, offsetting a decline of 0.3% in June (revised from -0.4%). Experts expect that figure to grow by 0.3%. Meanwhile, industrial production in the EU rose by 0.3% after falling 0.1% the previous month. In annual terms, industrial production increased by 1.9% in euro area and by 1.8% among the 28 EU countries. The Eurostat also reported that the monthly change in the euro area was due to the increase in electricity production (3.0%), capital goods (1.4%) and consumer durables (1.3%). Meanwhile, production of intermediate goods and consumer non-durable goods fell by 0.6%.

The Swiss franc depreciated slightly against the US dollar, breaking the mark of CHF0.9700, which was caused by the publication of weak data on Switzerland. Report submitted by the Federal Statistical Office showed that producer prices and import prices declined substantially at the end of August, when fixing the maximum rate of more than six decades. According to the data, the index of producer prices and imports fell in August by 6.8 percent per annum, after falling 6.4 percent in July. It was the largest drop since April 1950, when this figure fell to 7.1 per cent. It should also be noted, the index shows a continuous drop since October 2013. In monthly terms, the producer price index and import recorded its fifth consecutive monthly decline. At the end of August the index dropped by 0.7 percent (the maximum rate for the three months). Recall that in July, a decline of 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, another report showed that retail sales (seasonally adjusted) fell in July by 0.6 percent compared with 1.4 percent the previous month. In annual terms, sales decreased by 0.1 percent after falling 0.9 percent in June. Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco increased by 0.7 percent, while sales in the non-food sector rose by 0.3 percent. Excluding fuel, sales (seasonally adjusted) fell by 0.4 percent compared to June.

The pound fell against the dollar and reached $ 1.5370. Investors turn their attention to tomorrow's report on inflation in Britain, which may affect the prospects for changes in interest rates of the Central Bank. Little influenced by the statement made by the Bank of England Martin Huila. He noted that interest rates in the UK should be raised "relatively soon" in order to achieve the inflation target over the medium term. "Solid growth in wages and improvement in the labor market is likely to help boost inflation to the target level in the next two or three years - said Wil. - Monetary policy should be adapted to such conditions. As a result, it seems likely that the banking the rate will need to raise in a relatively short time. " He will also noted that cheap oil has become one of the driving factors of reducing inflation in recent months, and added that such shocks could last for some time. However, he said that, in future, there is good reason to expect a return of inflation to the target value on the background of strong wage growth and the introduction of new national subsistence minimum.