Labour Market Signals Mixed as Unemployment Beats Forecasts

UK’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9% in February, down from 5.2% in its previous month. Noticeable it was also below expectations of 5.2%. Figures also came in below BoE forecast, which had unemployment levels at 5.1%. A lot of news outlets seems to miss reporting that labour force participation fell in the three months leading up to February by 71k. Meaning there is less people actively looking for jobs. Markets have not reacted to these readings, with inflation figures being the main piece of data out tomorrow, which can give us a more direct indication of how the UK economy can move forward. 

In the afternoon session Kevin Warsh will meet with the Senate Banking Committee to start to transition into Federal Reserve’s President role. Markets will follow closely to see if they can grasp a comment or statement of his stance for the Federal Reserve way of moving forward. A lean in either direction, whether it would be seen as more hawkish or dovish to Jerome Powell, could ignite market movement for the USD.

GBP/EUR 1.1462 GBP/USD 1.3483 GBP/AED 4.9550

GBP/AUD 1.8855 GBP/CHF 1.0516 GBP/CAD 1.8422
GBP/NZD 2.2847 EUR/USD 1.1753 GBP/ZAR 22.0913

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