Claimant Count Change showed a drop of 34.6K jobless claims in the UK, better than expected. The unemployment rate for January remained unchanged at 7.2%. The UK unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged in January, at 7.2%. The number of jobless claims was predicted to drop by 23.2K in February, after a similar drop of 33.9K in January, revised from a drop of 27.6K. The MPC Meeting Minutes were predicted to show a unanimous vote on both the interest rate and the Asset Purchase Facility (QE) program. And as expected, a unanimous vote was indeed what happened.
GBP/USD was moving up towards the publications, reaching 1.6620 and recovering from low ground. In the aftermath of the release, GBP/USD finds little room to rise. It seems that the slightly better than expected data was already priced into cable in the 2 hours preceding the release.
The average earnings index rose by 1.4%, better than 1.3% expected with the previous figure revised to the upside: from 1.1% to 1.2%.
The rise of the unemployment rate from 7.1% to 7.2% hurt the pound and certainly allowed breathing space for the Bank of England.
1.6567 serves as support and 1.6668 works as resistance. For more, see the Pound dollar forecast.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will present the new budget today as well.
