The dollar is holding the euro at USD1.08 this morning having made up some ground yesterday following the Federal Reserve statement on Wednesday night While geopolitical factors returned to play with the meeting of George Bush and Tony Blair, the Fed's comments that the "forces restraining the economy [are] starting to diminish" and that the outlook for recovery has become "more promising" were enough to put a little life into the greenback "The dollar clawed back about a cent against the euro yesterday, bolstered by the Fed's hopes for economic recovery. Its gains however, were temporary as geopolitical events came back into focus with the euro reclaiming USD1.08 in late trading," said Geraldine Concagh, senior economist at AIB Treasury This afternoon sees the release of the Chicago purchasing managers index, but the market will also be watching personal income and consumption data following news yesterday that consumer spending growth slowed to 1.0pc in the fourth quarter from 4.2pc in the previous quarter The slowdown in consumer activity restrained US GDP growth in the fourth quarter; it slowed to a 0.7pc annualised rate from 4.0pc in the third quarter ///www.fxcentre.com