Investing.com - Surprisingly strong U.S. gross domestic product and weekly jobless claims reports sent the dollar firming against the pound on Thursday, a day before the release of the eagerly awaited monthly U.S. jobs report.
The U.S. data kept hopes going for Federal Reserve to begin tapering its dollar-weakening monetary stimulus programs in early 2014.
Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases aim to drive recovery by pushing down long-term interest rates, weakening the dollar as long as they remain in effect.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was trading at 1.6327, down 0.34%, up from a session low of 1.6301 and off from a high of 1.6404.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6134, the low from Nov. 25, and resistance at 1.6404, the earlier high.
The U.S. economy increased by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6% in the three months to September, well above expectations for 3.0% growth and up from a preliminary estimate of 2.8%, according to Commerce Department data released earlier.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 from 321,000 in the previous week, whose figure was revised up from 316,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 325,000 last week.
Government data also showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.9% in October, less than the expected 1% decline after an upwardly revised 1.8% increase the previous month.
The positive data bolstered the dollar by keeping expectations firm that the U.S. central bank will soon begin winding down bond purchases.
Meanwhile in the U.K., the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing stimulus package.
The pound, meanwhile, was down against the euro and down against the yen, with EUR/GBP up 0.86% at 0.8370 and GBP/JPY down 0.95% at 166.08.
On Friday, markets will move on the release of the U.S. November jobs report and also on the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index.
The U.S. data kept hopes going for Federal Reserve to begin tapering its dollar-weakening monetary stimulus programs in early 2014.
Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases aim to drive recovery by pushing down long-term interest rates, weakening the dollar as long as they remain in effect.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was trading at 1.6327, down 0.34%, up from a session low of 1.6301 and off from a high of 1.6404.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6134, the low from Nov. 25, and resistance at 1.6404, the earlier high.
The U.S. economy increased by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6% in the three months to September, well above expectations for 3.0% growth and up from a preliminary estimate of 2.8%, according to Commerce Department data released earlier.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 from 321,000 in the previous week, whose figure was revised up from 316,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 325,000 last week.
Government data also showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.9% in October, less than the expected 1% decline after an upwardly revised 1.8% increase the previous month.
The positive data bolstered the dollar by keeping expectations firm that the U.S. central bank will soon begin winding down bond purchases.
Meanwhile in the U.K., the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing stimulus package.
The pound, meanwhile, was down against the euro and down against the yen, with EUR/GBP up 0.86% at 0.8370 and GBP/JPY down 0.95% at 166.08.
On Friday, markets will move on the release of the U.S. November jobs report and also on the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index.