Forex Pros – The pound pared gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales data. GBP/USD hit 1.5234 during European afternoon trade; gaining 0.37%, after retreating from a daily high of 1.5292. Cable was likely to find support at 1.4964, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.5390, the high of April 26. Earlier Wednesday the Census Bureau said U.S. retail and food services sales for June fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.5%, after declining 1.1% in May, whose figure was revised up from 1.2%. Analysts had expected a drop of 0.2% in June. The pounds earlier gains came after U.K. official data showed the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 20.8K in May, after falling 30.9K in April. Analysts had expected a decrease of 20.1K in May. As a result of the decrease the unemployment rate for the 3 months to May fell to 7.8%, after advancing to 7.9% in the preceding quarter. Analysts had expected an unemployment rate of 7.9% in the quarter to May. The pound was also up against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.51% to hit 0.8340. Later in the day, the minutes of the last meeting of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee were due to be published and were widely expected to show a decline in the outlook for U.S. economic growth in the third and fourth quarters.

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