Daily Analysis: US Dollar and Pound Sterling Remain Under Pressure with Euro Making Further Gains

Our daily analysis of EUR, GBP and USD.

DAILY ANALYSIS

GBP

• Sterling remained under increased pressure on Thursday following underwhelming GDP figures from the ONS.
  • MoM (April) figures released at -0.3%, which, despite expectations being a negative reading, was 0.2% lower than the forecasted.
• The figures supported early sentiment in the week that the UK’s recovery was faltering and increased chances of the BoE bringing forward rate cuts to help stimulate growth.
• GBP/EUR hit a fresh low of 1.1699 yesterday but has rebounded above 1.1750 this morning.

USD

• The US Dollar weakened further on Thursday following two lacklustre data releases.
  • Initial Jobless Claims reported higher than expected at 248k – the same as the last reading.
  • Producer Price Index dropped lower than anticipated at 3% versus 3.1% expected and 3.2% last time out.
• At 3 pm today, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index will give a better understanding of consumer confidence in the US economy, with analysts suggesting that we will see a higher reading at this month's release than last month's (53.5 vs. 52.2).
• The flailing confidence in the US was laid bare when escalating conflict in the Middle East on Thursday had no bearing on what was, until recently, the ‘safe haven’ currency.

EUR

• A quiet day for the Single Currency yesterday with uninspired speeches from a host of ECB members.
• The ECB did, however, announce that Gold had displaced the Euro as the second-largest global reserve asset.
• This morning, German HICP reported in line with both expectations and previous at 2.1%.

If you need a live exchange rate or quote, give us a call, email us, or request a call-back.

If you have not already registered with us the quote will be indicative.