The dollar stayed under pressure after weakening through the day, as US retail sales for December fell unexpectedly. The Commerce Department said December retail sales fell 0.4 pct, contrary to expectations for no change. Commerce also revised down retail sales for November to a 1.0 pct gain, from 1.2 pct. At 13.56 GMT the euro was trading around 1.4890 to the dollar, having spiked above 1.4900 just after the data's release from 1.4885 before. The yen jumped to 106.70 to the dollar from 107.55 just before the data, and the pound also strengthened a fraction, to around 1.9705 usd from 1.9690. "Heavy betting against a good sales number from the US economy set euro/dollar up for a 1.4900 test, and with weak retail numbers confirmed and a downward revision to the November data, the figure has been breached," said Peter Stoneham at Thomson IFR Markets. "I would expect to see the initial reaction backed up by another wave of dollar selling and a run to the 1.4915 Monday high," he added. Adding to the gloom, PPI data showed a drop in wholesale inflation for the first time since August, and the Empire State manufacturing index came in below expectations. Аnalysts said the weak data back up expectations for aggressive interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, perhaps before the next scheduled meeting. "The combination of weaker than expected US retail sales, weak PPI and dismal subcomponents in the NY Fed's Empire manufacturing survey clears the way for an inter-meeting Fed rate cut of 50 basis points, to be followed by 25 basis points later this month," said Ashraf Laidi at CMC Markets.