The pound had an unexpected bonus this morning with news the that UK unemployment now stands at 5.7%. The unemployment rate had been forecast to remain at 5.8% but with the number of people out of work falling by 97,000, coupled with a drop in the number of people claiming job-seekers allowance and average earnings also increasing the value of the pound received a welcome boost.
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As the graph above shows this morning's news had an immediate impact on the GBP/USD cross with the currency pair gaining over three quarters of cent. GBP/USD exchange rates jumped from $1.5350 to a $1.5439 on the back of this morning's data releases.
Bank of England minutes.
This morning also saw the release of the minutes from the Bank of England's meeting earlier in the month. Unsurprisingly there was no change to the central banks stance on interest rates or monetary policy but the minutes did show the MPC members expect inflation in the UK to bounce back from its current record low level, something Mark Carney highlighted in his inflation report last week.
Sterling push.
Today's figures show the UK recovery is still very much on track and that the current inflation reading is masking what is a solid foundation. In the last four weeks GBP/USD has climbed over 3% with exchange rates rising from $1.4976 to their current level. The question now will be whether Sterling can continue to rise, with so much uncertainty still surrounding Greece, events in the Eurozone could start to impact the UK and the pound.
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