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By Bloomberg

The dollar weakened for a second day after a report showed sales at U.S. retailers were little changed in April.

The reading followed a revised 1.1 percent gain in March that was the biggest in a year and larger than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed Wednesday in Washington. The median forecast of 88 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.2 percent gain in April.

“The U.S. dollar is likely to remain on the defensive,” Steven Saywell, global head of foreign-exchange strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London, said in a note before the figures were released.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the greenback versus 10 major trading partners, fell 0.4 percent to 1,1580.29 at 8:32 a.m. New York time.

“On the European side we have had some good numbers and on the other side people have been disappointed in the performance of U.S. data and that is weighing on the dollar and allowing the euro to trade higher,” said Sonja Marten, a currency strategist at DZ Bank AG in Frankfurt.

Euro-area gross domestic product increased 0.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said on Wednesday. That’s in line with the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey, and the strongest growth since the second quarter of 2013. Industrial production data unexpectedly fell.

DZ Bank’s Marten still forecasts the euro will trade below parity with the dollar in 12 months. With the European Central Bank set to maintain its unprecedented program of monetary stimulus while the U.S. Federal Reserve moves toward raising rates for the first time since 2006, any gains in the euro would probably be fleeting, she said.