Sterling Softens on British Labour Data, Euro Edges Higher ahead of Greek MPs Decision and US Dollar Holds steady ahead of Factory Output Data

Published: 15 Jul at 10 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, USA, Germany, Greece,

Pound Sterling (GBP)
After British labour market data produced mostly disappointing results, the Pound softened versus most of its major peers. June’s Jobless Claims Change saw 7,000 new claimants, much higher than perditions of -9,000. Unemployment rose in May from 5.5% to 5.6%. May’s Employment Change dived by -67,000 and Average Weekly Earnings failed to rise in line with median market forecasts.
‘The soft tone of the latest UK labour-market figures will temper expectations of a near-term rate rise following yesterday’s relatively hawkish comments by some MPC members,’ said Vicky Redwood, an economist at Capital Economics in London. ‘Although some members of the MPC are clearly ready to start voting for a rate rise soon, we don’t think that the economic data are strong enough to push a majority toward one yet.’

Euro (EUR)
The common currency edged higher versus many of its peers despite ongoing pessimism regarding the likelihood of Greece accepting the bailout deal. This is likely to be the result of fears that the new deal could be more detrimental in the long-term and only delay another Greek crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that the new deal was not viable because it includes no debt relief. After having established capital controls, the IMF fear that Greece’s debt could reach 200% of its gross domestic product.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble stated that he still believes a temporary Greek exit would be the best solution. ‘There are a lot of people, also in the German government, who are fairly convinced that in the interests of Greece and the Greek people the [Grexit plan] would be the better option.’

US Dollar (USD)
The US asset is generally holding steady versus its rivals on Wednesday as traders await factory output data. The ‘Greenback’ (USD) is holding a weak position after Tuesday’s domestic data showed Advance Retail Sales decline by -0.3%, despite the median market forecast 0.3% growth in sales. The poor retail sales figures were attributed to the unseasonably cold winter.
Rate hawks will be hoping that both Manufacturing and Industrial Production will produce positive results. This would pressure the Federal Reserve into hiking the rate within 2015, although many futures traders are still predicting a delay until 2016.

As of Wednesday, 15th July 2015, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.4271, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.5637,

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