020 7898 0500The dollar has been weakening against a range of currencies over the past couple of weeks. However it gained some support as the announcement from the latest Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting yesterday evening stated that they viewed the weakness in the first quarter as temporary. The Fed did keep interest rates on hold as expected but markets are now beginning to talk about the next increase happening at next month’s meeting.
There was some positive news yesterday as the US service sector showed a bigger rise in April than was expected. The Institute of Supply Management’s non-manufacturing PMI rose to 57.5 in April from 55.2 in March, which was better than the 55.8 predicted.
Elsewhere, however, there were reports that US companies created 177,000 new jobs last month, which is quite a significant drop from the 255,000 created in March.
Later in the week, we have the all-important non-farm payroll figures. Markets are expecting a bounce-back after last month’s disappointing data.
