Sterling drops below 1.34 against dollar for first time in 2018

Sterling fell nearly one percent in American trade to December 15 lows against the dollar, following earlier data from Britain and the US, and ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's last meeting minutes. 

As of 03:48 GMT, GBP/USD fell 0.65% to 1.3345 from the opening of 1.3432, with an intraday high at 1.3443, and a five-month trough at 1.3306. 

Earlier UK data showed consumer prices rose 0.4% m/m in April, up from 0.1% in March, and missing forecasts of 0.5%, while on a yearly basis, prices rose 2.4%, down from 2.5%, as core prices slowed down to 2.1% from 2.3%, missing forecasts of 2.2%. 

UK input producer prices accelerated to 0.4% m/m from 0.1%, missing forecasts of 1%, while accelerating to 5.3% y/y from 4.4%, missing estimates of 5.8%.

The House Price Index rose 4.2% y/y, same as in February, and missing forecasts of 4.4%. 

UK foreign secretary Philip Hammond said earlier that it's not important for Britain to remain within the EU customs union after Brexit, expressing his confidence in achieving progress in Brexit negotiations and solving many of the disputed matters between the two sides. 

Moving across the Atlantic, earlier US data showed the initial reading for services PMI up to 55.7 in May from 54.6 in April, beating forecasts of 54.9, while the manufacturing PMI widened to 56.6 as expected from 56.5 in April. 

US new home sales fell 1.5% to an annualized 662 thousand units in April, compared to a 2% rise to 672 thousand, revised from a 4% rise to 694K in March, beating estimates of a 2.1% fall to 680 thousand. 

Now markets await the Federal Open Market Committee's minutes for the May meeting, at which policymakers voted to stay overnight interest rates unchanged at below 1.75%. 

Later this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will participate in a panel discussion titled "The future of central banking?" at the Sveriges Riksbank Anniversary Conference, in Stockholm.