The Pound eased slightly against the US Dollar on Thursday afternoon but remained close to its highest level in five-years as mixed data out of the US weighed upon the GBP/USD pairing.
Supporting the US Dollar was a report released by the Washington based Commerce Department which showed that consumer spending in the States surged to its highest level in close to five years in March. The cause for the surge was the warmer weather which brought consumers back into shops and the release of pent up demand as a result of the extremely cold months of January and February.
According to the data household spending increased by 0.9% the sharpest rise seen since August 2009. The figure added to the 0.5% rise seen in February. Household spending accounts for around 70% of the world’s largest economy.
“Growth in economic activity has picked up recently, after having slowed sharply. Household spending appears to be rising more quickly,” said the Federal Open Market Committee in a statement following the data’s release.
The ‘Greenback’ firmed slightly but was unable to push higher as a separate report released by the Labour Department showed that the number of US citizens filing for unemployment benefits increased more than forecast last week to a nine-week high.
The number of claimants increased by 14,000 to 344,000 in the week ending April 26th, the biggest increase recorded since February 22nd. Economists had been expecting a figure of 320,000.
The US Dollar could recover further ground later in the session if the latest ISM Manufacturing PMI data comes in positively. Also due for publication is Markit’s manufacturing PMI report.
US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
US Dollar,
,Pound Sterling,0.5922 ,
US Dollar,,Euro,0.7206 ,
US Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,1.0989 ,
US Dollar,,Australian Dollar,1.0795 ,
Pound Sterling,,US Dollar,1.6887 ,
Euro,,US Dollar,1.3878 ,
[/table]
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