Yesterday’s Market Movers

• It was a busy day in the UK yesterday with the main focus surrounding the employment market. The ILO unemployment rate came in flat however it was the Claimant Count Change for last month that saw some weakness for the GBP. Expected to come in at half of previous- showing a good improvement, the figure actually came out to show that more people were making benefits claims than the month previous which holds very negative connotations for the UK, especially given the consensus in the opposite direction.

Yesterday’s Market Movers

• It was a busy day in the UK yesterday with the main focus surrounding the employment market. The ILO unemployment rate came in flat however it was the Claimant Count Change for last month that saw some weakness for the GBP. Expected to come in at half of previous- showing a good improvement, the figure actually came out to show that more people were making benefits claims than the month previous which holds very negative connotations for the UK, especially given the consensus in the opposite direction.
• Industrial production in the EU showed an improvement although this had little effect on the market other than to add slightly to the GBP dropping off against the Euro after the poor jobless figures for the UK.
• US CPI figures gave positive news for the US showing good signs of economic growth across a number of sectors. This had little effect on the market as later in the day saw a return to risk aversion causing the USD to strengthen off the back of negative figures in the form of Net Long Term TIC Flows, NAHB housing market and Industrial Production figures.

Today’s Market Movers

• The UK opens today with Retail Sales figures for May expected to come in worse than previous. This could be due to the influx of sales caused in April by the Royal Wedding however and if this is the case then we may see minimal market movements with this having already been priced into the market.
• EU employment change is expected to come in slightly better than previous although this could be cancelled out by the worse than previous figures that are expected for the EU CPI.
• In the US both initial and continuing jobless claims are expected to come in worse than previous although only slightly, so this could have little effect on the market.
• The final pieces of data for the day from the US are the Building Permits and Housing starts which are looking to cancel each other out, followed by the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey which is expected to show positive news with a significant increase.