The US Dollar Exchange Rate was trading in the region of 0.6450 against the Pound as of 14:53 pm GMT
The Eurozone might have been plagued with a stream of disappointing data this morning but in the US the situation is less gloomy. After yesterday’s better-than-forecast retail figures today saw the release of another sign of improvement in the US labour market.
According to figures compiled by the Labour Department jobless claims fell by 27,000 in week ending February 9th. This figure took the number of claims to 341,000, the lowest level seen for a month and 19,000 less than forecast.
The report also showed that in the week ending Feb 2nd the amount of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell to 3.11 million, a drop of 130,000 and the lowest level for 3 and a half years.
Although this improvement is notable, and is contributing to strengthening retail sales in the nation, the US labour market still hasn’t got the necessary momentum behind it to drive it forward significantly.
As US economist Yelena Shulyatyeva stated: ‘The labour market is improving but only at a very steady pace. What we need is an acceleration in hiring to move the employment rate lower.’
When it came to emergency/extended benefits payments jumped by roughly 255,000.
It seems that the recent tentative signs of recovery are still not filling businesses with the confidence they need to boost hiring, but industry experts are hopeful that now the shadow of the fiscal cliff has passed (and concerns about the US debt ceiling are beginning to abate) the lower risk environment could lend the labour market the support it needs.
Although this US data is significant, economic developments elsewhere were largely responsible for ‘Greenback’ movement today.
A bout of less-than-impressive data for the Eurozone, including disappointing GDP figures for Germany, France and Italy, caused the Euro to slide to a three week low against its safe-haven American counterpart. The common currency shed 0.8 per cent against the US Dollar immediately following the news that GDP for the Eurozone as a whole also dropped, losing 0.6 per cent from the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the Pound continued to be affected by yesterday’s Bank of England inflation report. Although the British currency climbed on its broadly weakening European cousin, concerns regarding the UK’s sluggish economic recovery saw Sterling post additional modest losses against the US Dollar.
The ‘Greenback’ also gained on other European currencies, including the Czech Koruna and Hungarian Forint, but lost some ground against the Japanese Yen.
Despite a surprising contraction in Japanese 4Q GDP the Yen still gained on several of its most traded rivals, including the US Dollar, as investors anticipate the outcome of tomorrow’s volatile meeting of the G-20.
The Canadian Dollar, which strengthened on the back of Eurozone developments, is hovering within parity of its American counterpart after US jobless claims data allowed it to gain on the ‘Greenback’.
Current US Dollar Exchange Rates
The US Dollar to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 0.7502
The US Dollar to Pound Sterling exchange rate is currently trading at 0.6450
The US Dollar to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.0016
The US Dollar to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.9663
The US Dollar to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.1805
The US Dollar to Emirati Dirham exchange rate is currently trading at 3.6729
The US Dollar to Swiss Franc is currently trading at 0.9214
The US Dollar to Japanese Yen exchange rate is currently trading at 93.1900
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