The U.S. dollar is strengthening against the euro and the pound sterling during trading on Monday and is getting cheaper against the Japanese yen, demand for which is growing amid concerns about the global economy. Investors’ concerns about slowing global economic growth intensified amid statistical data from China, Bloomberg news agency writes.

“Markets should quickly adjust to the quite obvious: in the coming quarter, economic performance in the PRC will be even worse due to the current lockdowns,” said George Bubouras, executive director and head of research at K2 Asset Management.

China’s industrial output fell in April for the first time since March 2020 amid quarantine measures imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. Industrial output fell 2.9% year-on-year in April, data from China’s State Statistics Office (SSO) showed.

Retail sales in China last month collapsed 11.1% year-on-year (-3.5% in March), while a 6.1% drop was expected. April’s decline in retail sales was the largest since March 2020.

Unemployment in China in April jumped to 6.1%, the highest since February 2020, up from 5.8% in March. The Chinese government’s target for unemployment is 5.5%.

As of 9:40 Moscow time, the euro-dollar exchange rate was down 0.07% to $1.0405 from $1.0412 at the close of previous trading. The dollar fell 0.15% to 129.03 yen against 129.18 yen the previous day. The pound sterling fell 0.20% to $1.2238 from $1.2262. The Australian dollar fell 0.72% to $0.6890 from $0.6940 at the end of previous trading.

Calculated by ICE index, which shows the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona), shows no changes, the broader WSJ Dollar Index is up 0.18%.