US dollar still the best of a bad bunch

Retail sales were weak but the trend is better

Goldman Sachs lowered its Q2 US GDP tracking forecast to 3.0% from 3.2% after soft retail sales data.

But at the end of the day, that's still 3.0% growth in a world where expansion is tough to find. The US dollar fell to the lows of the session after the numbers but is clawing its way back.

Missing by a few ticks on retail sales is disappointing but ex-autos and gas, sales have risen by an average of 0.3% for the past 4 months. That's 3.6% annualized and shows a solid trend in the US economy that's backed up by jobs growth.

That's not to say the US economy is great or that it can sustain the Fed hiking to 2.00-3.00%. But it's better than austerity-wracked Europe and moribund Japan.