The US Dollar was trading weaker against the Pound and several other major peers as Wednesday’s data releases painted a mixed picture for the world’s largest economy.
The ‘Greenback’ suffered a decline earlier in the afternoon after data showed that US equipment such as machinery and electronic goods climbed by a worse than expected amount in August. According to the Census Bureau US core durable goods orders, excluding transportation items, declined by 0.1% in August, disappointing economist expectations for an increase of 1%.
“It’s fairly tepid. A lot of companies are very cautious. Nobody wants to build up particularly large inventories or put in orders for equipment when they think there’s a lot of uncertainty on the table” said an economist at TD securities USA LLC.
As the Durable goods orders disappointed the latest new US home sales data impressed as purchases rose in August. Sales rose by 7.9% to a seasonally adjusted 421,000 units in August from a downwardly revised figure of 390,000 in the previous month. Economists had been calling for a rise to 420,000.
Despite the improved sales the Dollar remains under pressure after Tuesday’s economic data releases continued to highlight concerns over the outlook for the USA’s economic recovery. Speculation over when the Federal Reserve will choose to begin tapering its monetary easing programme is also weighing upon the currency.
Sterling meanwhile remained supported in the afternoon after a report released earlier in the session showed that the UK’s retail sales index rose to its highest level since June 2012. Against the Euro the Dollar was also weaker following the release of positive German consumer confidence data.
US Dollar (USD) Current Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6250 <
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7413 <
The US Dollar/Japanese Yen Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 98.5709 <
The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0314
The Euro/ US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3489 >
The Australian Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.9341 >
The New Zealand Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8229 <
(Correct as of 15:40 pm GMT)
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