Pound hurt by repossessions, USD by jobless numbers

The pound and the US dollar both declined versus the yen Thursday on more bad economic news.

The pound was hurt by the news that home repossessions in the UK were up 92 percent in the third quarter and in anticipation of another report, due Friday, which could show that the UK economy contracted by more than 1 percent in the fourth quarter, while there were worries that the government there could nationalize UK banks.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the Labor Department reported that first-time jobless claims rose to 589,000 in the US last week, significantly above expectations of about 540,000 new filings as 4.6 million people continued to receive jobless benefits, while over 2 million of them requested extended benefits in the week ending 3 January.

Bad news for the euro came in the form of a report showing that consumer spending was down in France in December.

In late morning trade in New York, the yen traded at ¥121.8802 to the pound, at ¥88.485 to the greenback, and at ¥114.4844 to the euro.

The pound traded at 93.93 to the euro while it took $1.3774 to buy a pound.

The strength of the yen was not good news for the Japanese economy as exporters there continue to be hurt by the yen’s gains at the same time that Japan’s exports were reported to be down 35 percent in December 2008 compared to the same month in 2007.

Story link: Pound hurt by repossessions, USD by jobless numbers