GBP finds some strength

After a very poor start to the week, sterling has finally found some support which looks like it comes from weakness in the other currencies rather than actual pound strength. The Euro has come off from its recent highs following yesterday’s worse than expected data. The Purchasing Manager Index for both services and manufacturing came in worse than expected and although still signalling growth it reminded investors that the Euro still had plenty of problems.

The US had some mixed news out yesterday which weakened the dollar a little. Jobless claims were worse than expected showing that the employment market across the pond is still in a pretty poor state but home sales came in above expectations which could point to a stabilisation of the US housing market, after the tax credit for first time buyers has expired, and a world away from last month’s 27.2% drop.

Today we only have had the German IFO figures out, an indicator of business sentiment, which came in marginally better than expected which hasn’t really affected things but it’s nice to see some better than expected data out following some of the awful figures we have had this week. This afternoon we have the durable goods figures for the US and the new home sales for the US which could echo yesterday’s positive figures and give a small boost to the USD but short of some shock news we should see a quieter end to the week.