The US Dollar has strengthened against most of its peers including Sterling following the release of the latest jobless claims data.
Early in afternoon trading the ‘Greenback’ softened as the final reading of second quarter GDP for the world’s largest economy came in below expectations. The data showed that the US economy grew at a rate of 2.5%, in line with the previous estimate. Economists however were disappointed after they had expected the figure to climb to 2.6%.
Shortly after the GDP figure was released came the jobless claims data for the week ending on September 21st. According to the report produced by the Washington based Labour Department, jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 305,000 beating expectations of an increase to 325,000. The monthly average fell to its lowest level since June 2007 suggesting that the US jobs sector is continuing to improve.
Adding further signs that the USA’s jobs market is improving was the result of a survey which showed that the number of people who said work opportunities are currently scarce, and those who said they’re easy to get, shrank to the lowest level since September 2008.
Against the Pound the Dollar strengthened after the UK’s GDP data came in worse than forecast. On a yearly basis it rose by 1.3% in the second quarter below expectations of a rise to 1.5%. Also weighing upon the Pound was the release of data which showed that the nation’s current account deficit narrowed by a smaller than hoped for margin.
US Dollar (USD) Current Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6235 >
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7409 >
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 98.9028 >
The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0312 <
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6036 <
The Euro/ US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3496
The New Zealand Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8282 >
(Correct as of 14:30 pm GMT)
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