The US Dollar has rallied, recovering the losses it made against the Pound and Euro earlier in Thursdays session. The recovery was spurred on by the release of data showing that the number of applications for unemployment benefits fell to a six-year low.
According to data released by the Washington based Labour Department, the number of US citizens applying for unemployment insurance payments tumbled by 15,000 to 320,000 in the week ending on the tenth of August, the lowest amount since October 2007. The figure beat economist expectations for the figure to remain the same as the previous week of 335,000.
The better-than-expected data has increased speculation that the Federal Reserve will begin to taper its monetary easing programme in September.
“The data continues to improve and impress the marketplace and I think the data will continue in this direction. Then the question becomes not whether they are tapering in September but by how much,” said Charles Comiskey from the Bank of Nova Scotia.
In a separate report the Labour Department said that its consumer price index increased by 0.2% in July matching economist forecasts.
In yet another sign that the US economy is improving at an ever increasing rate the latest data out of the New York region showed that manufacturing expanded for a third month. The New York general economic index came in at 8.2. Any reading greater than zero signals expansion. The data is expected to signal continued of rate of expansion in the more important Philadelphia manufacturing survey.
As a result of the data release the ‘Greenback’ also erased its losses against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian Dollars.
Current US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6418
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7526
The US Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0918
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 98.1552
The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0328
(Correct as of 14:40 pm GMT)
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