FXStreet (Delhi) – James Knightley, Research Analyst at ING, notes that the UK labour report is a little mixed as employment rose 140,000 in the three months to August while unemployment fell 79,000 meaning that the unemployment rate surprisingly dipped to 5.4% – the lowest rate since June 2008.
Key Quotes
“However, the story on pay wasn’t quite as good as hoped. Including bonuses, average weekly earnings are rising 3%YoY, but excluding bonuses the three month moving average rate slipped slightly to 2.8%YoY from 2.9%.”
“Nonetheless, with headline CPI in negative territory and employment rising we are seeing substantial increases in real household earnings, which is supporting consumer confidence and should help boost consumer spending growth. This is clearly a positive for domestic activity and offers more evidence to suggest that market expectations of the first BoE rate rise being more than a year away seem too cautious.”
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)