The British pound weakened from new multi-day highs against its US, Japanese, European and Swiss counterparts during Monday's early European deals.
The British pound edged up against the Japanese yen during Monday's early Asian trading and hit an 18-day high of 149.17. However, the pound weakened during the later part of the session and hit as low as 147.79 by 5:00 am ET. At Friday's New York session close, the pair was quoted at 148.12. On the downside, the pound may likely find its next target at 143.7 level.
The UK currency climbed to an 11-day high of 1.6997 against the Swiss franc, before reversing direction by about 3:40 am ET. The pound is now trading at 1.6903 against the franc, compared to last week's closing value of 1.6952. The next likely target level for the pound-franc pair is seen at 1.676.
The Swiss SVME Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 34.7 points in April from 32.6 points logged in the previous month, a report from Credit Suisse showed today. The index stood above the expected reading of 34.
The sterling weakened to 0.8942 against the euro by about 5:00 am ET, after rising to a 6-day high of 0.8890 during today's early Asian trading. The next downside target level for the sterling is seen at 0.8898. And against the US dollar, the pound moved from an 18-day high of 1.4983 to 1.4866 by about 5:00 am ET, and the immediate support is seen around the 1.47 level. The euro-pound pair closed last week's deals at 0.8898 and pound-dollar pair at 1.4918.
On the economic front, the German Federal Statistical Office announced that the retail turnover in real terms declined 1.5% year-over-year in March, after falling 6.2% in February. Economists were looking a decline of 0.4%. A year ago, retail turnover was down 7.5%.
Additionally, another report showed that the number of unemployed in Germany rose for the sixth straight month in April as recession prompted firms to slash more and more jobs. According to data released by the Federal Labor Agency, the number of unemployed rose a seasonally adjusted 58,000 in April, taking the total to 3.46 million.
In addition, Italian producer prices dropped 0.6% month-on-month in March, larger than an expected 0.4% decline, the statistical office report showed. Annually, the production price index for industrial products slipped 3.9% in March. Economists were expecting an annual 4.3% drop.
From the U.S., pending home sales and construction spending reports-both for the month of March are slated for release at 10:00 am ET.
Meanwhile, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Tom Hoenig is scheduled to present a luncheon address on the financial crisis in New York at 12:30 pm ET. Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker is due to deliver a speech on the economic outlook to business and banking executives in Charlottesville, Virginia at 2 pm ET.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.