Investing.com - The euro moved lower against the U.S. dollar in early trade Friday, as European shares traded lower on weak German retail sales and ongoing concerns over the make-up of the rescue fund for debt-threatened euro-zone members.
EUR/USD hit 1.3424 in early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since last Friday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3456 sinking 1.05%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3377, the low of January 19, and resistance at 1.3798, last Thursday’s high.
Earlier Friday, Germany’s Federal Statistics Office reported that retail sales fell by a seasonally adjusted 2.9% in August, down from a 0.3% gain the previous month. Market forecasts for retail sales in Europe’s largest economy were for a 0.5% decline.
European shares were sharply lower in late Friday trade; France’s CAC was down 2.09% to 2,964.50, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.78% to 5,104.35 and Germany’s DAX sank by 2.25% to 5,512.73.
German and French stock markets were on pace to end the quarter lower by 25%.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal income in August fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, matching market expectations, while consumer spending rose by 0.2% for the month.
Research group Kingsbury International’s Chicago Purchasing Manager’s Index rose to 60.4 in September, up from 56.5 in August. Analysts had expected the index to fall to 56.0 for the month.
Profits taker cashed in on gains made in Thursday’s Wall Street session; in early U.S. trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 11,046.13, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.23% to 2,450.06, and the S&P 500 shed 1.04% to 1,148.35.
Meanwhile, the euro was lower against both the British pound and the Japanese yen, with EUR/GBP down by 1.04% to hit 0.8609, and EUR/JPY lower by 0.90% to hit 103.54.
Europe’s Markit Economics was due to release its Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index for the euro-zone on Monday.