The unemployment rate in the UK rose above expectations: The UK unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from November 2023 to January 2024, largely unchanged from the previous quarter but slightly above the market consensus of 3.8%. The number of unemployed individuals fell by 8,000 to a total of 1.36 million, driven by those out of work for up to 12 months.
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The dollar declines as traders await inflation data
The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom rose above expectations
Japanese 10-year bond yields jump to the highest level in 3 months
The dollar declines as traders await inflation data
The dollar index settled around 102.8 in weak trading today
as investors awaited a key US inflation reading that could provide clues to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path.
Last week, the dollar lost more than 1%, as Fed Chair Powell told Congress
that the central bank still needs to become more confident
that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2% before cutting interest rates, although it is not far off.
About that. Meanwhile, data on Monday showed that US consumer inflation
expectations for next year held steady at 3% in February.
The CPI is expected to remain high in February due to higher gasoline prices,
but core inflation is likely to slow further amid falling car prices and rising rents.
Markets are not currently anticipating any interest rate cuts by the Fed in March and May, but are betting on a cut in June.
The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom rose above expectations
The UK unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from November 2023 to January 2024,
largely unchanged from the previous quarter but slightly above the market consensus of 3.8%.
The number of unemployed individuals fell by 8,000 to a total of 1.36 million,
driven by those out of work for up to 12 months.
Meanwhile, the number of people out of work rose for more than 12 months in the latest quarter,
after declines over the past year. The number of workers decreased by 21,000 to 33.18 million,
with the number of part-time workers declining. Conversely, the number of full-time employees increased during the quarter.
In addition, the number of people working in second jobs continued to decline in the last quarter,
representing 3.5% of all employed individuals. Finally, the economic inactivity rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 21.8%.
Japanese bond yields for 10 years jump to the highest level in 3 months
The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds jumped to a three-month high above 0.76%,
while the two-year yield rose about 0.2%, the highest level since 2011,
as data showed that producer prices in Japan rose more than expected in February.
Data released earlier this week also showed that the country’s economy returned to growth in the fourth quarter of 2023,
avoiding a technical recession. Along with higher wages, the latest batch of economic data
in Japan has raised expectations that the Bank of Japan may start raising interest rates soon,
with some traders betting on a rate hike in March.
In addition, Bank of Japan Board Member Junko Nakagawa recently stated that
“the economy’s prospects for a positive cycle of inflation and wages are on the horizon”
The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom rose above expectations