Morning Bid: Red hot retail readout drives US economy and dollar

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The red hot U.S. retail readout for March has underlined the sheer strength of the economic expansion there and is super-charging the dollar around the world. China's first-quarter GDP annual growth of 5.3% did surpass expectations but March industry and retail growth missed forecasts. The dollar's main index hit a five-month high on Tuesday and has now gained 4% in just six weeks. Monday's news of a surprise March U.S. retail sales surge saw economists revise up their first-quarter U.S. economic growth estimates to just under 3% annualised. With the International Monetary Fund's Spring meeting getting underway in Washington this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on Tuesday - as is European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. The IMF also releases its updated World Economic Outlook later on Tuesday and markets will keenly watch its forecasts for U.S. growth for this year and next. The upshot is a restive U.S. Treasury market, where 10-year Treasury yields hit 4.66% on Monday for the first time since November and held those gains today. With the first quarter U.S. corporate earnings season kicking into gear, stock market volatility is on the rise again too. The VIX 'fear index' hit its highest of the year on Tuesday too at 19.56 - coincidentally the average of the past 35 years since the index's inception. Bourses across Asia and Europe were down more than 1% on Tuesday too.

#UsEconomy #RetailSales #Dollar #EconomicGrowth #FederalReserve #InternationalMonetaryFund

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-red-hot-retail-100318414.html