The dollar weakened against the euro and had a topsy turvy day against sterling as Brexit-related news caused some volatility in the pound. US retail sales for September were released and showed that they only grew by 0.1% against an expectation of 0.6% growth. Spending at restaurants and bars went down 1.8%, which is the most since December 2016.
Wall Street opened lower once more as rising tensions with Saudi Arabia are worrying traders. After speaking with the Saudi king, Donald Trump said that ‘rogue killers’ might have murdered the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. King Salman of Saudi Arabia reportedly denied any knowledge of the killing. Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves mean that it holds significant power over the global economy, so increased tensions would likely not be good news.
To cap off what is an extremely busy day for economic data, we will see the industrial and manufacturing production figures from the US in September. The US economy has been posting some strong figures in recent times, so it will be interesting to see whether the trend will continue.
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