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Dollar Exchange Rates: USD Continues to Strengthen

Published: 1 Mar at 10 AM Tags: Pound Sterling, Euro Exchange Rate, Dollar Exchange Rate, Euro Crisis, Economy, Inflation,

The US dollar continues to strengthen against both the euro and the pound on the back of better than expected US manufacturing data and the continuing fall-out from last weekend’s Italian elections which are increasing ‘safe-haven’ flows into the dollar.



The Chicago PMI index increased from 55.6 in January to 56.8 in February, beating analysts’ predictions of 54.0.

In other US news, the US Department of Labor reported yesterday in their weekly jobless claims report that initial claims in the week ending 23 February declined to 344,000 compared to the previous week's reading of 366,000. The consensus estimate by analysts was for a reading of 360,000 claims.

This data remains in line with a moderately improving jobs market. Analysts at Barclays commented that "We view labour markets as gradually but steadily improving, and this week’s data are consistent with our forecast of a 150k increase in non-farm payrolls, a 155k increase in private payrolls, and a one-tenth decline in the unemployment rate to 7.8% in the February employment report".



Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported yesterday that the global economic recovery will slow this year unless the US averts $85 billion in spending cuts that are due to start today, advising that “Everybody is assuming that sequestration is going to take effect. What it means is that we are going to have to re-evaluate our growth forecasts for the United States and other forecasts.”



In the euro zone, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi signaled yesterday that the ECB would maintain its financial support measures with the rate of inflation expected to significantly miss its 2% target during 2014.

The ECB has predicted that the euro zone economy will contract by 0.3% this year and inflation will slow to 1.4% in 2014.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso suggested yesterday that he remains confident that Italy’s next government will honour the economic reforms put in place by the technocrat government of Mario Monti as Italy continues to try and find a way to solve its hung parliament.

Overnight, data from China showed that its manufacturing sector slowed in February, suggesting the country’s recovery could be slackening. The official purchasing managers’ index dipped to 50.1 from 50.4 in January. It was the fifth consecutive month above the midpoint of 50, which indicates an expansion in industrial activity, but the decline in the index means that the pace of expansion has likely slowed.
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