Investing.com - The pound firmed against the dollar on Wednesday after U.S. retails sales and wholesale pricing numbers came in short of expectations and cast doubts on the strength of U.S. recovery.
In U.S. trading on Wednesday, GBP/USD was up 0.31% at 1.5953, up from a session low of 1.5878 and off a high of 1.6065.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5878, the session low, and resistance at 1.6227, last Thursday's high.
The Census Bureau reported earlier that U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% last month, exceeding forecasts for a 0.1% decline, after expanding 0.6% in August.
Core retail sales, which exclude motor vehicles and parts, dropped 0.2% in September, defying expectations for a 0.3% gain, after rising 0.3% the previous month.
A separate report showed that U.S. producer price inflation slipped 0.1% in September, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% rise, after a flat reading in August.
September's year-on-year PPI rose 1.6%, missing expectations for a 1.8% gain.
Elsewhere, the Federal Reserve of New York reported that its manufacturing index tumbled to a six-month low of 6.2 in October from 27.5 in September. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 25.5 this month.
Wednesday's data sent investors rethinking how fast the Federal Reserve will move to tighten policy in 2015, which hammered the dollar.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, data released earlier revealed that the U.K. claimant count declined less than expected in August, although the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since October 2008.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by 18,600 last month, missing expectations for a decline of 35,000 people. The August figure was revised to a drop of 33,200 people from a previously reported decline of 37,200.
The report also showed that the rate of unemployment declined to 6.0% in the three months to August, compared to expectations for a reading of 6.1% and down from 6.2% in the three months to July.
Elsewhere, sterling was down against the euro, with EUR/GBP up 0.70% at 0.8016, and down against the yen, with GBP/JPY down 0.79% at 168.92.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as data on industrial production and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.