The Pound Sterling (GBP) has dropped against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) today and is now trending in a narrow range. This follows the announcement of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which has indicated that the strength of the US Dollar (USD) has prevented the growth of the US economy in the past few months.
Glut of US Results to take up this Afternoon, CPIs most Prominent
There are no major UK releases left this week, therefore the next influencers of the GBP/USD exchange rate will be the wide range of US data releases due to take place this afternoon. The announcements likely to have the greatest impact are the US Inflation Rate figures for September; the base annual figure is forecast to fall by -0.1%, while the result Excluding Food and Energy is predicted to come in at 1.8%.
Earlier…
The Pound Sterling (GBP) has improved its earlier performance against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) by posting 1.2% in the exchange rate today, following the bulk of the US data releases today failing to meet with predictions.
Fed’s Beige Book retains Potential to Undo GBP/USD Gains This Evening
All of the day’s US results so far today have fallen short of forecasts, either simply missing expectations or actually printing in negative ranges. As a consequence the Pound (GBP) and others have made major gains against the beleaguered ‘Buck’ (USD).
This evening, however, the release of the Fed’s Beige Book of economic results will take place and although unlikely, signs of extremely positive developments in the US economy could potentially swing the exchange rate back into the US Dollar’s favour, or at the very least lessen the current damage.
Earlier…
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate has risen by a large amount today, thanks to the last UK results of the week coming out positively.
GBP/USD Exchange Rate News: Employment Results Move in all the Right Directions Today to Strengthen Sterling
The Pound Sterling (GBP) has advanced by 0.6% against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) today, just one of a number of gains for Sterling. Other notable rises have included 0.7% against the Omani Rial (GBP/OMR), 0.8% against the Russian Ruble (GBP/RUB) and 0.9% against the Chinese Yuan (GBP/CNY). The Pound has not been immune to losses, however, seeing drops of -0.4% against the Singapore Dollar (GBP/SGD) and -0.6% against the New Zealand Dollar (GBP/NZD).
The Pound’s strong showing today has been due to a highly-beneficial outcome in the area of UK employment – the Unemployment Rate for the three months to the end of August has fallen from 5.5% to 5.4% and the Employment Change for the same period has seen a healthy 140k increase in the number of employed persons. In addition, UK Earnings also rose by 3% over the last year.
Bearish Bullard Speech keeps the US Dollar (USD) Down Today
The US Dollar (USD) has been far more consistent than the Pound (GBP) today – it has fallen across the board due to Fed caution and underperforming domestic data. Fed official James Bullard stated yesterday that it would be ‘very tough’ for the Fed to raise the US interest rate in October given the series of negative economic announcements that have plagued the central bank’s decision making process for months now.
The US Dollar has declined by -0.6% against the Pound Sterling (USD/GBP), the Norwegian Krone (USD/NOK) and the South African Rand (USD/ZAR) today, along with -1.2% against the New Zealand Dollar (USD/NZD).
GBP/USD Exchange Rate Forecast: Afternoon to be Dominated by Blanket US Data Coverage
With the last Sterling (GBP) results of the week in and gone, it only remains for the US Dollar (USD) to provide further influence on the GBP/USD exchange rate’s movement. While a large number of postings from the US are due from midday onwards, the most notable are the Advance Retail Sales figures for September and the contents of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
At the time of writing, the base Retail Sales figure had been expected to rise by an acceptable 0.2%, while by contrast the contents of the Beige Book are unknowable until the moment of its release. However, as the book covers economic conditions from Federal Reserve districts, any signs of decline or growth are sure to be focused on, given that Fed officials have reiterated their reliance on data to decide how they act on interest rate decisions.
Current GBP, USD Exchange Rates
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate was trending in the region of 1.5362 and the US Dollar to Pound Sterling (USD/GBP) exchange rate was trending in the region of 0.6510 today.
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