Extremely weak data on construction in the US caused a weakening of the dollar. Thus, the number of construction permits issued dropped by 4.5%, from 1,272 thousand to 1,215 thousand. The number of housing starts was fell by 4.7%, from 1,183 thousand to 1,127 thousand. The dollar was not even supported by good data from Europe. In particular, despite the fact that the unemployment rate in the UK remained unchanged with the number of applications for unemployment benefits increased by 1.7 thousand, the dollar still fell. Also, it is important to note that wage growth rates are not enough. They remained the same so they are even smaller than inflation. This means real wages in the UK are declining. In Europe, the growth rate of construction slowed from 3.4% to 1.6%.
Today, the pound will have to give up some of its positions, as the slowdown in the growth of retail sales is forecasted to fall from 2.4% to 2.1%. Against the backdrop of rising inflation and the persistence of wage growth rates, this is an extremely negative factor. However, in the data on applications for unemployment benefits of the US, there are expectations of it going in a different direction so that they will level each other. The number of primary applications can be reduced from 243 thousand to 240 thousand. The number of primary applications, should grow from 1,889 thousand to 1,900 thousand. In general, the number of applications can grow by 8 thousand.
The EUR/USD pair will consolidate at 1.1815
The GBP/USD pair will decrease slightly, and finish the day at 1.3165.
