United States Dollar:
It’s been a volatile week this week for the pound, but some calm was restored yesterday. GBP/USD traded a fairly narrow range between 1.6575 and 1.6598. UK retail sales data was released yesterday morning, and showed that sales grew in July at a weaker pace than expected at 0.1%. Public sector borrowing data was also weaker than market forecasts. Come the afternoon, a series of US economic data printed stronger than expected. Unemployment claims, Flash Manufacturing PMI, Philly Fed Manufacturing and Existing Home Sales all come in above consensus. Investors didn’t react very positively to the news however, as the Jackson Hole Symposium draws ever closer. That said the USD did firm up a little against the pound specifically, and GBP/USD drifted to an overnight low of 1.6570. It has recovered a little this morning to open in London at 1.6585.
Euro:
European manufacturing and services PMI’s were a touch mixed yesterday. Overall, the data was a touch soft and it saw EUR/USD fall to a low of 1.3255. The stronger than expected US data failed to lift the dollar vs. the euro, and instead investors sold the USD ahead of Yellen’s speech at Jackson Hole today – there’s a feeling that she’ll sound too dovish and so undo the dollar’s positive news from the FOMC minutes earlier in the week. EUR/USD has continued its upward momentum in Asia and ended up trading to a high of 1.3296 overnight.
Aussie and Kiwi Dollars:
AUD/USD and NZD/USD also ticked higher overnight and they open this morning at .9325 and .8415 respectively. All in all, activity has been fairly muted though as traders await comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen this afternoon. There was no economic data released from either Australia or NZ overnight and so investors had little information to react to. In the meantime, GBP/AUD and GBP/NZD have weakened and trade at 1.7790 and 1.9715 this morning.
Date Releases for the next 24 hours:
AUD: No data
EUR: ECB President Draghi Speaks
GBP: No data
NZD: No data
USD: Fed Chair Yellen Speaks
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