Dollar, pound gain on euro

Story link: Dollar, pound gain on euro

The US dollar was higher versus the euro again on Thursday on the chance that the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates any time soon after Wednesday’s quarter point cut to 2 percent.

The dollar was helped by a new index reading from the Institute for Supply Management that held steady at 48.6 in April, showing that US manufacturing contracted less than had been expected in April, while the euro was hurt by expectations that the European Central Bank will have to cut interest rates this year.

In late morning trade in New York, the dollar traded at $1.5445 to the euro it also gained on the Swiss franc to SFr1.0487, on the Norwegian krone to kr5.1590 and on the yen to ¥104.9750.

The euro was worth ¥160.7438.

The pound, meanwhile, gained on the euro after the Bank of England issued comments indicating that the worst of the credit crisis could be over and on a report from the Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply that it’s factory-price index was at its highest level since 1999.

However, the pound weakened in relation to the US dollar on the belief that the Bank of England will cut interest rates again soon.

The pound traded at 78.22p to the euro at late morning in New York, while at the same time it took $1.9745 to buy a pound.