The dollar continued to firm against the sterling following weak UK economic data, rising to its highest level in 4-months at 1.9813.

However, the greenback was slightly softer against the yen and euro following the weak Philadelphia Fed survey.

The final reading for Q3 GDP was unchanged from the preliminary figure, with the economy expanding at the robust rate of 4.9%. The Q3 core PCE prices was slightly higher at 2.0%, up from 1.8%. The housing investment growth plunged by 20.5%, its lowest since Q1 2001. Weekly jobless claims also edged up to 346k, from 333k in the previous week. Pushing the dollar lower, however, was an unexpected dip into negative territory by the Philadelphia Fed survey at -5.7 in December, versus an 8.2 reading in November. The employment component of the survey dropped to 0.5 from

4.8 - its lowest level since February.

United kingdom