Forexpros – The pound was lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as the dollar found support on the back of diminished expectations for more easing by the Federal Reserve, while investors awaited U.K. retail sales data later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5637 during European morning trade, the pair’s lowest since August 10; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5649, shedding 0.22%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5576, the low of August 10 and resistance at 1.5716, the high of August 13.
Data on Wednesday showed that industrial production in the U.S. rose more than expected in July.
The report came one day after unexpectedly robust U.S. retail sales data for July dampened expectations for another round of quantitative easing by the U.S. central bank.
But investors remained cautious after data on Wednesday showed that a gauge of manufacturing activity in New York fell into contraction territory in August for the first time since October 2011.
The pound had been higher on Wednesday, after the minutes of the Bank of England’s August meeting showed that policymakers voted unanimously to keep U.K. interest rates steady at 0.5% at its meeting and to leave the quantitative easing program unchanged at GBP375 billion.
A separate report showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. fell unexpectedly in July and the nation’s unemployment rate ticked down to 8% from 8.1% in June.
But sustained concerns over the outlook for the U.K. economy stoked fears that weak economic data could prompt the BoE to implement another round of stimulus measures, which would be negative for the pound.
The pound was little changed against the euro, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.06% to 0.7841.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was to publish official data on building permits and housing starts, as well as weekly government data on unemployment claims and data on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area.
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