Investing.com - The euro dipped against the dollar on Wednesday as the dollar steadied in the wake of a disappointing U.S. retail sales report, while economic reports out of China highlighted the need for more monetary stimulus by Beijing.
EUR/USD slid 0.14% to 1.0641, off Tuesday’s highs of 1.0706.
Data on Wednesday showed that while China’s economy grew 7.0% in the first quarter, matching forecasts, it was still the slowest rate of growth in six years
Reports on retail sales and industrial output both fell short of forecasts, indicating that China needs to act to prevent a further slowdown in the economy.
The dollar fell against a basket of other major currencies in the previous session after data showed that U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% in March, missing expectations for a 1.0% gain.
The data fuelled speculation that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
The euro remained under pressure as the European Central Bank’s bond buying stimulus program continued to weigh on euro zone bond yields.
Sentiment on the single currency was also hit as uncertainty over Greece’s bailout negotiations with its creditors continued to weigh.
USD/JPY was up 0.14% to 119.55, recovering from Tuesday’s lows of 119.06.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 98.97, after falling to lows of 98.58 in the previous session.