Investing.com - The pound pulled back from 14-month lows against the dollar on Friday after data showed that the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than forecast last month, prompting investors to book profits in the greenback.
GBP/USD was up 0.26% to 1.5872 in late trade, after falling to lows of 1.5791 earlier, the weakest since September 2013. For the week, the pair was still down 0.62%.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October, missing expectations for jobs growth of 231,000.
September’s figure was revised up to 256,000 from a previously reported 248,000 and August’s figure was also revised up to 203,000 from 180,000, pointing to underlying strength in the labor market.
The U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to a fresh six-year low of 5.8% from 5.9% in September.
The data prompted investors to sell the dollar to lock in gains following its recent rally but did little to alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates ahead of its other major peers.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.63% to 87.66, off the four-and-a-half year peaks of 88.31 hit earlier in the session.
A day earlier the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee voted to leave U.K. interest rates at their current record lows of 0.5%, in a widely anticipated decision.
The pound remained under pressure after surveys of the U.K. service and manufacturing sectors released earlier in week added to worries that the rate of the economic recovery is slowing.
Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro on Friday, with EUR/GBP advancing 0.44% to 0.7848, recovering from Thursday’s five week lows of 0.7798.
The single currency weakened after the European Central Bank reiterated its pledge on Thursday to implement further stimulus measures if needed to combat persistently low levels of inflation in the euro area.
In the week ahead, Thursday’s inflation report from the BoE will closely watched amid fears that the recovery is moderating, while investors will also be looking ahead to Friday’s reports on U.S. retail sales and consumer confidence.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets. The guide skips Monday and Tuesday as there are no relevant events on these days.
Wednesday, November 12
The U.K. is to release data on the change in the number of people employed, the unemployment rate and average earnings.
Meanwhile, the BoE is to publish its quarterly inflation report and Governor Mark Carney is to hold a press conference to discuss the report.
Thursday, November 13
The U.S. is to publish the weekly report on initial jobless claims.
Friday, November 14
The U.S. is to round up the week with data on retail sales and import prices as well as preliminary data on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.