The dollar is pulling back against all of its major competitors Thursday afternoon. The release of some weaker than expected U.S. economic data has the buck losing ground against the Euro and the pound sterling, while its gains against the Japanese Yen are quickly eroding.
After reporting a bigger than expected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that jobless claims pulled back in line with estimates in the week ended September 6th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 275,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 281,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 275,000 from the 282,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With fuel prices showing another substantial decrease, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that U.S. import prices fell more than expected in the month of August. The Labor Department said import prices tumbled by 1.8 percent in August following an unrevised 0.9 percent decrease in July. Economists had expected import prices to drop by 1.6 percent.
Additionally, the report also showed a steep drop in export prices, which slumped by 1.4 percent in August after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in July. Export prices had been expected to edge down by about 0.4 percent compared to the 0.2 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.
Wholesale inventories in the U.S. unexpectedly saw a modest decrease in the month of July, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The report said wholesale inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in July following a downwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in June.
The drop came as a surprise to economists, who had expected inventories to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The dollar rose to an early high of $1.1170 against the Euro, but has since dropped to a 1-week low of $1.1285.
French industrial production declined unexpectedly in July, data from the statistical office Insee revealed Thursday. Industrial production slid 0.8 percent in July from June, when it remained flat. It was expected to grow 0.2 percent.
France’s non-farm payroll employment increased in the three months ended June after staying flat in the previous quarter, figures from the statistical office INSEE showed Thursday. Payroll employment in the principally market sectors, which include the manufacturing, construction and service sectors, rose 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, after showing no variations in the preceding quarter.
The Bank of England kept its record low interest rate unchanged in a split vote and judged it premature to conclude that overseas events, especially those in China, had a huge adverse impact on the British economy.
At its meeting on September 9, the Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to maintain interest rate at 0.50 percent as seen in the previous meeting held in August.
Ian McCafferty repeated his call for a quarter-point rate hike as he assessed that building domestic cost pressures would otherwise be likely to lead to inflation overshooting the 2 percent target in the medium term.
Policymakers also unanimously voted to retain quantitative easing programme at GBP 375 billion.
The buck hovered around the $1.5350 level against the pound sterling early Thursday, but has since fallen to a 2-week low of $1.5465.
U.K. house prices logged its biggest monthly increase in 15 months, data from Lloyds Banking Group’s Halifax division revealed Thursday. House prices advanced 2.7 percent in August from July, which was the fastest increase since May 2014. Economists had forecast prices to climb 0.5 percent after falling 0.4 percent in July.
House prices in the United Kingdom spiked in August, the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Thursday as its house price balance surged to 53 percent. That topped forecasts for an increase of 46 percent and was up sharply from 44 percent in July.
The greenback climbed to a week and a half high of Y121.323 against the Japanese Yen Thursday morning, but has since retreated to around Y120.600.
Core machine orders in Japan skidded 3.6 percent on month in July, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday – worth 805.6 billion yen. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for an increase of 3.3 percent following the 7.9 percent contraction in June.
Domestic corporate service prices in Japan were down 3.6 percent on year in August, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for a decline of 3.3 percent following the 3.0 percent contraction in July.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com