FX round-up: Euro under pressure again

Date: Friday 04 Jun 2010 The euro came back under pressure on Thursday as enthusiasm for the US dollar was kindled by some reassuring US economic data. US retail sales rose 2.5% in May, though this was below expectations of 2.6% growth. Retail sales are expected to continue to grow but not rapidly. In contrast eurozone retail sales volumes dropped by 1.2% month-on-month in April and by 1.5% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the US weekly dole report beat expectations. Initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 10,000 to 453,000 in the week ended 29 May. Economists had predicted jobless claims figures to show 450,000 people sought jobseekers allowance. Payroll services firm ADP reported private employers added 55,000 jobs in May, up from the 32,000 jobs added in April. The euro was buying $1.2160 in late New York trading on Thursday, compared to $1.2209 the day before, In the morning session the greenback had fallen back as the stock market revival encouraged investors to turn their back on the haven qualities of the US currency but lacklustre economic data from Europe focused attention back on Europe’s economic travails. In the UK the services sector purchasing managers index (PMI) was also underwhelming, as it rose to 55.4, marginally below expectations of 55.7, but up from April’s 55.3. A value above 50 indicates expansion. Sterling fell back to $1.4611 against the US dollar in New York trade, down from around $1.4650 on Wednesday. The dollar index, which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, climbed 0.5% to 87.22 from 86.77 the day before. The buck also made headway against the Japanese yen, with the Asian currency still under pressure following the resignation of Japan’s Prime Minister on Wednesday. The US dollar rose to 92.59 yen from around 92.18 the day before.

	GBP	AUD	CAD	JPY	EUR	CHF	USD
GBP	1.0000	1.7328	1.5224	135.5738	1.2011	1.6885	1.4627
AUD	0.5771	1.0000	0.8786	78.2416	0.6932	0.9745	0.8442
CAD	0.6569	1.1382	1.0000	89.0518	0.7890	1.1091	0.9608
JPY	0.0074	0.0128	0.0112	1.0000	0.0089	0.0125	0.0108
EUR	0.8326	1.4426	1.2675	112.8722	1.0000	1.4058	1.2178
CHF	0.5922	1.0262	0.9016	80.2919	0.7114	1.0000	0.8663
USD	0.6836	1.1846	1.0408	92.6850	0.8212	1.1543	1.0000