Good news for British workers: salaries have risen 2.7% in April, more than expected. The same number applies when including and excluding bonuses. Jobless claims (Claimant Count Change) for May dropped by 6.5K, falling short of predictions. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.5% for April. The meeting minutes showed a unanimous decision on no policy change, as expected.
GBP/USD leaps above 1.57. Update: the rise is continuous and the pair already hits a high of 1.5728, a rise of 50 pips from the release and around 100 pips since the top of the hour.
Also previous wage data was revised to the upside: 2.3% in both figures, from 2.2% excluding bonuses and 1.9% including originally reported for March.
The meeting minutes note that the exchange rate is volatile and that low inflation is expected to dissipate soon.
The UK was expected to report a drop of 12.5K jobs in May. The unemployment rate for April was predicted to remain unchanged at 5.5% for April. The Average Earnings Index (aka wage growth) carried projections for an acceleration to an advance of 2.1% in April and 2.5% excluding bonuses. At the same time, the UK also released the meeting minutes from the latest rate decision, giving us insights about the view from Carney and co.
GBP/USD was on the rise towards the event, trading around 1.5650.
The pound has shown a lot of strength in recent days, rising against the dollar and also against other currencies.
More: GBP/USD: Further Upside; – RBS
Here is how it looks on the charts:
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