Dollar Steady, Sterling Squeezed as Focus Turns to US Inflation

A picture illustration of the U.S. dollar, Swiss Franc, British pound, and Euro banknotes, taken in Warsaw, Poland, on Jan. 26, 2011. Kacper Pempel/Reuters

LONDON—The dollar was steady while sterling crosses nursed losses on Thursday in holiday-thinned trade ahead of the last major data release of the year in Friday’s U.S. inflation figures.

Sterling suffered its sharpest drop on the dollar in two months on Wednesday after British inflation dived below forecasts to an annual 3.9 percent in October, a two-year low.