Euro hurt by drop in retail sales

The euro declined in relation to the US dollar and the yen on Thursday on a decline in retail sales in Europe, which dropped 0.5 percent in February.

While the dollar was helped by news that the US service sector did better than expected in March even though it remained in contraction, it was hurt by a new Labor Department report that showed initial jobless claims up last week.

In late morning trade in New York, the dollar traded at $1.5672 to the euro while the yen was at ¥160.004 to the shared currency after trading at ¥159.68 earlier.

The pound was weaker in relation to the greenback on new data showing that growth in the UK service sector slowed in March, with the pound trading at 50.07p to the dollar and at 78.48p to the euro at around 11:30 a.m. in New York.

Story link: Euro hurt by drop in retail sales