In the first half of the day, weak data was released that limited the growth potential of the European currency, and at the North American session a good report on industrial production and the number of housing starts in the United States supported the US dollar.

According to the German institute ZEW, the economic sentiment in Germany in April this year deteriorated due to fears of escalating international trade wars.

Thus, the leading index of economic expectations in April fell to -8.2 points against 5.1 points in March. Economists had expected the index to drop to -3.0 points. Weak fundamental data that came out at the end of the previous year and the beginning of this month for Germany, as well as military actions in Syria, put primary pressure on the leading data on economic sentiment.

In the afternoon, a good report from the US Department of Commerce on the number of housing starts has supported the US dollar. More active construction of apartment buildings had the greatest impact on the overall indicator.

According to the data, the number of housing starts in March 2018 increased by 1.9% compared to the previous month and amounted to 1.319 million houses per year. The number of building permits in March increased by 2.5% compared to the previous month and amounted to 1.354 million homes per year. Economists predicted an increase in housing starts in March by 1.6%, and the number of permits by 0.8%.

As I noted above, a good report on industrial production also affected the market. The main growth was provided by the automotive and equipment sector for business.

According to the data of the Federal Reserve System of the USA, industrial production in March grew by 0.5% compared to the previous month. Economists had expected production growth of 0.4%. In comparison with the same period of the previous year, the growth of industrial production in March amounted to 4.3%.

Capacity utilization in March also increased, to 78%, while economists expected that capacity utilization in March would be 77.9%.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund has published a report on the prospects for the world economy, raising forecasts for GDP growth in the UK, the US, the euro area and other developed economies this year. The IMF expects that all major economies will continue to grow in 2018, predicting an increase in world GDP by 3.9%.

The IMF believes that the problems associated with trade relations between the United States, China and other countries will have little impact on the prospects for global GDP growth.