The US Dollar Exchange Rate was trading in the region of 0.7439 against the Euro as of 15.08 pm
Despite all eyes focusing on Europe today, and the market being shaken up in the aftermath of the European Central Bank’s rate decision, home-grown news has also had a slight effect on the US Dollar.
According to figures compiled by the Labour Department, last week US applications for jobless benefits dropped by 5,000 to 366,000, levels not seen since the middle of last year.
Forty-nine states and territories posted a decrease in claims whilst just four reported an increase.
Although today’s figure is an improvement, particularly when viewed in conjunction with last week’s payroll data, it is still a decline of 6,000 less than forecast by economist. Meanwhile, the amount of people continuing to collect jobless benefits increased to 3.22 million, a climb of 8,000.
A separate report also showed that in the fourth quarter of last year the productivity of workers in the US dropped by the most significant amount for over 18 months, and as a consequence of this 2 per cent annual rate reduction in productivity labour expenses rose.
Since Superstorm Sandy in the Autumn of last year various issues, from seasonal adjustments to the shadow of the fiscal cliff, have resulted in violent fluctuations in jobless claims, but now the situation is settling it seems that there has been little alteration in the pace of firings.
After the data was released one industry expert commented: ‘Firms are really not discharging people at a very great rate. Still, the claims data seems to show there hasn’t been much of anything different going on in the jobs market. It’s not yet clear whether there’s something more positive developing.’
Despite this ambivalent data the ‘Greenback’ still posted gains, notably against the Euro after the common currency broadly softened.
The Euro’s declines were triggered by a speech made by Mario Draghi, President of the ECB. Draghi inferred that the current strength of the Euro is increasing the likelihood of inflation slowing – a circumstance which has the potential to damage Eurozone recovery.
However, the US Dollar lost ground against its British rival today as the Pound advanced against the majority of its most traded peers. In July Mark Carney takes over as Governor of the Bank of England and until now investors have been concerned that he will instigate additional monetary easing. So after he intimated that this may not be the case earlier today Sterling was able to recoup some of its recent losses.
Current US Dollar Exchange Rates
The US Dollar to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 0.7439
The US Dollar to Pound Sterling exchange rate is currently trading at 0.6370
The US Dollar to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.9960
The US Dollar to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.9685
The US Dollar to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.1976
The US Dollar to Emirati Dirham exchange rate is currently trading at 3.6729
The US Dollar to Swiss Franc is currently trading at 0.9127
The US Dollar to Japanese Yen exchange rate is currently trading at 93.6300
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