The dollar edged up against the euro and yen on Monday in extremely thin trade as Wall Street surrendered earlier gains and traders repositioned themselves ahead of U.S. consumer and housing data due this week.

US dollar falls against euro, currency basket… Pound hits 6-1/2-yr low vs dlr, near parity with euro… Swiss franc supported by Israel-Hamas conflict… Prices of US single-family homes plunge in October

The news on the UK economy just keeps getting worse. Last week’s news was unremittingly glum – from falling house prices to income squeezes, most of us are quite a bit worse off than we were a year ago.

The Fed once again cut interest rates on Wednesday, this time by a quarter of a percentage point. So what does this mean for the U.S. economy as well as the central banks in Europe?

As expected, UK interest rates come down a quarter per cent to 5%. London equities are down 75 points, the pound is grovelling against the euro like never before and DSG International (Curry’s/PC World) says promotional goods are all that’s selling, as it dishes out another profit warning.