After staging a rebound to end the previous week, the US Dollar (USD) stays under pressure on Monday as investors scrutinize the latest developments surrounding US tariffs. Eurostat will publish Retail Sales data for February and the US economic calendar will not feature any high-impact data releases in the second half of the day on Monday.
The upbeat March employment data from the US and Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell’s relatively hawkish comments helped the USD stay resilient against its rivals heading into the weekend. Nevertheless, the USD Index lost more than 1% for the week still.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 228,000 in March, beating the market expectation of 135,000 by a wide margin. Later in the day, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are bigger than expected, and they risk higher inflation and slower growth. “The Fed’s obligation is to make certain that a one-time increase in price levels doesn’t become an ongoing inflation problem,” he added.
Trump said over the weekend that unless they solve the trade deficit with China, he will not be making a deal. In the meantime, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed on Sunday that the tariffs would not be postponed and the policy will remain in place for days and weeks.
