Sterling slides further vs dollar

Sterling fell by nearly two cents, or 1.2%, at its lowest point yesterday as poor economic data from the US encouraged investors to dump the pound.

• A survey of new purchase orders for durable goods in the US revealed a figure slightly down on forecasts, dulling investors’ appetite for sterling as they retreated to the safer currency.
  
• This data was immediately levelled out by a stronger-than-forecast US homes sales figure, but it had a minimal selling effect on the dollar, with the pound eventually closing the day down at 1.6233.
  
• The pound also suffered from a slowdown in the recent bullish trend of European equities, with the FTSE100 ending up 0.54% down for the day, putting selling pressure on sterling.
  
• In trading so far this morning, the pound has slowed its rate of decline following stronger-than-forecast data emerging for UK house prices.
  
• Investors will be keenly anticipating the US Prelim quarterly GDP figure announced today at 13:30BST, with forecasters still predicting an economic retraction of 1.4% despite recent upbeat sentiment about US recovery.