The Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate continues to trend in a narrow range after the UK Employment, Wages and Claims figures sent the Pound into an overall decline.
Pound Sterling (GBP) remains Steady against ‘Greenback’ (USD); Incoming US Data may Soften GBP/USD Pairing
The Pound Sterling (GBP) has trended narrowly against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) today; this comes after the UK Unemployment Rate for the three months through June and the Claimant Count for July remained unchanged, but the Employment Change figure for the three months to the end of June recorded a loss of -63K jobs. The Jobless Claims Change figure for July saw a fall of -4.9K claims, but this positive result failed to offset the Pound’s decline. The Pound may slip against the US Dollar later today, as the US MBA Mortgage Applications figure for August 7th and the Monthly Budget Statement for July results are due in, and any encouraging results are likely to shift the current stalemate into the US Dollar’s (USD/GBP) favour.
The Pound fell by more than -0.9% against the Euro (GBP/EUR), the Swiss Franc (GBP/CHF) and the Danish Krone (GBP/DKK), but has elsewhere seen a rise of over 1% against the Indian Rupee (GBP/INR) and a triumph of 2.2% against the Russian Ruble (GBP/RUB).
Earlier…
The Pound Sterling (GBP) has held no advantage against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) today, after Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart made optimistic comments on the state of the US economy yesterday.
Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) Exchange Rate set to Remain Stable until UK Employment Figures Tomorrow
Lockhart’s comments that ‘The point of ‘liftoff’ is close’, and that ‘Conditions are no longer extraordinary’ sent the US Dollar (USD) up against several competitors, seeing a 0.7% increase against the South African Rand (USD/ZAR) and the Indian Rupee (USD/INR), and a 0.9% rise against the New Zealand Dollar (USD/NZD). The greatest gains for the ‘Greenback’ have been a 1.1% gain against the Australian Dollar (USD/AUD).
Later today, the US Wholesale Inventories figure for June is due out, and while forecasts are for a 0.4% growth, this is lower than the previous total of 0.8%; such a disparity may once again dip the US Dollar against the Pound (USD/GBP) if results are worse than expected. Tomorrow, however, the GBP/USD pairing will be most affected by the UK Earnings and Employment data for June. A variety of releases are occurring simultaneously, so if the figures show an overall growth in the number of employed persons and their incomes, the Pound is expected to gain significantly against the ‘Greenback’.
Earlier…
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate has dipped slightly ahead of a key week of data releases for both currencies.
Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) Exchange Rate News: Pound Recovers from BoE MPC Nosedive, Sees Mixed Performance Overall
The Pound Sterling has fallen against the US Dollar (GBP/USD) by -0.2% today, ahead of an uncertain week for the UK’s Employment figures. Elsewhere, the Pound has gained by more than 0.5% against the South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) and the Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD), and has seen a greater advance of 0.8% against the New Zealand Dollar (GBP/NZD). However, this has been tempered by a -0.5% fall against the Norwegian Krone (GBP/NOK), and elsewhere the Pound has trended narrowly.
These results are still a major improvement over last Thursday’s drop, which occurred after a worse than expected result came from the Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
US Dollar to Pound Sterling (USD/GBP) Exchange Rate Sees Minor Gains, Greater Gains Elsewhere for ‘Greenback’ (USD)
The US Dollar (USD) stands to gain exponentially this week, after recovering from the decline in performance that followed a below-forecast result in the US Change in Non-Farm Payrolls figure for July. The drop in value came as the figure renewed uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve would raise the US interest rate this year, given that they are looking for positive economic growth as an incentive to make the decision. However, while the headline jobs gains was slightly lower than forecast, it was still above the key 200,000 level. Average earnings also increased as expected, leading most industry experts to speculate that the Fed would view the data optimistically.
The US Dollar rose by 0.2% against the Pound Sterling (USD/GBP) today, and saw a greater gain of 0.4% against the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY). The greatest gains for the ‘Greenback’ have been an increase of more than 0.7% against the Australian Dollar (USD/AUD), the South African rand (USD/ZAR) and the New Zealand Dollar (USD/NZD).
Pound Sterling to US Dollar Exchange Rate Forecast: ‘Greenback’ Likely to remain Dominant in GBP/USD Pairing if Forecasts are Accurate
The UK has fewer major data releases than the US this week and forecasts are also less optimistic overall. Wednesday will see the release of the UK figures for Employment Change for the 3 months to the end of July, the ILO Employment Rate, the Jobless Claims Change and the yearly Average Weekly Earnings. Predictions are for a loss of -55k Employed persons, no change in the Employment Rate, a 1k person increase in the number of Jobless Claims and a -0.4% drop in Average Weekly Earnings.
The US, meanwhile, has major releases on each day of the week; the most important of these are the Wholesale Inventories figure for June, the Advance Retail Sales result for July, the Continuing Claims figures up to August 1st and the University of Michigan Confidence Index for August. Forecasts for all of these results are positive, and if major improvement is recorded in all of these fields, the ‘Greenback’ may uptrend throughout the week, gathering momentum with each step closer to an interest rate hike.
Current GBP, USD Exchange Rates
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate was trending in the region of 1.5469 and the US Dollar to Pound Sterling (USD/GBP) exchange rate was trending in the region of 0.6464 today.
Comments are closed.