US: Retail sales contract 0.2% in February vs +0.3% expected

The data published by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday showed that retail sales declined by 0.2% on a monthly basis in February following January's 0.7% growth and fell short of the market expectation for an increase of 0.3%. With the initial reaction, the US Dollar Index edged lower and last was down 0.16% on a daily basis at 97.06.