It was a defensive day for the Pound on Thursday as the services PMI came in lower than expected, while it also suffered at the hands of the underperforming job market in the UK. The figures for August indicated that there had been growth in the service sector even after they had been revised from 60.1 to 58.8. However, this also highlighted the rate at which jobs were being cut in the service industry. This saw the currency finish trading at 1.1204 against the Euro and 1.3273 against the US Dollar according to the Foreign Exchange Market.
Through Thursday, the Euro pushed higher, even though the latest retail figures indicated that the economic recovery in Europe was moving at a slower rate than expected. However, this upward momentum was also helped by the news that France had announced a new €100bn recovery plan in an attempt to help get the economy back on its feet.
The US Dollar continued to recover during trading on Thursday following the news that jobless claims had dropped to the lowest rate seen since the pandemic began in March. There was also an expansion in the US service sector during August and this helped to bolster the safe-haven currency.