Pound Sterling
Prior to the publication of the UK’s public spending and retail sales figures, the Pound was trading in a stronger position against the Euro. The GBP/EUR pairing was able to hold above 1.40 as PMI reports for the Eurozone and its largest economies printed below expected levels. However, Sterling lost ground against the US Dollar as Wednesday’s better-than-forecast US housing data lent the currency support.


Euro
Greek concerns and a bad batch of Composite/Services/Manufacturing PMIs for the Eurozone and its largest economies kept the Euro trending lower on Thursday. The Eurozone’s Composite PMI declined from 54.0 in March to 53.5 in April rather than rising to 54.4 as expected. The result indicates that the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing measures may not be having the positive impact economists expected.


US Dollar
Although demand for the US Dollar remains a little muted due to expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off adjusting interest rates until later in the year, an impressive 6.1% surge in New Home Sales helped the ‘Greenback’ recover losses against a number of its rivals. In the hours ahead, US manufacturing and initial jobless claims numbers will be dictating the direction Sterling takes.



Australian Dollar
On Wednesday the Australian Dollar was supported by bets that the latest batch of Australian inflation figures will prevent the Reserve Bank of Australia from cutting borrowing costs in May. However, the ‘Aussie’s uptrend was stymied by less-than-impressive data for both Australia and China. China’s HSBC Manufacturing PMI was shown to have fallen further into contraction territory, moving from 49.6 to 49.2.



New Zealand Dollar
The New Zealand Dollar was trending lower across the board as the week continued and manufacturing data for China, one of New Zealand’s main trading partners, disappointed forecasts. New Zealand’s domestic reports impressed however, with the nation’s Consumer Confidence Index rising 3.4% and Credit Card Spending being shown to have increased by 0.6% on the month.


Canadian Dollar
The ‘Loonie’ slumped to a one-week low against the Pound yesterday as the BoE minutes drove the British asset higher against a number of rivals. With Canadian data lacking this week, any additional Canadian Dollar movement will be the result of commodity price movements and global economic developments.