GBP 
Britain’s trade in goods deficit widened sharply in December on a surge in oil
imports, making the trade gap for last year as a whole the biggest since
2010. There were signs of a shift in the trade balance in the final
quarter, when the goods deficit narrowed by the largest amount in three years
as export volumes rose at their fastest since the second quarter of 2013, but
the overall picture remains one of an economy heavily reliant on domestic
demand.

GBP 
Britain’s trade in goods deficit widened sharply in December on a surge in oil
imports, making the trade gap for last year as a whole the biggest since
2010. There were signs of a shift in the trade balance in the final
quarter, when the goods deficit narrowed by the largest amount in three years
as export volumes rose at their fastest since the second quarter of 2013, but
the overall picture remains one of an economy heavily reliant on domestic
demand.

The Conservative-led government’s hopes of exports playing a greater role in
the economy have been frustrated by persistent weakness in the euro zone,
Britain’s largest export market. That seems unlikely to change before a
national election on May 7.

But there are signs that exporters are being helped by the fall in the value of
the pound in the second half of last year. Export volumes jumped 2.4 percent in
December. A survey last week showed British manufacturing export order growth
hit a five-month high in January. December’s deficit was pushed up by a nearly
40 percent leap in oil import volumes, reversing a trend of falling imports.

USD
Employers in the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in January, capping the
biggest three-month gain in 17 years, and workers’ earnings jumped. The 257,000
advance in payrolls last month followed a 329,000 gain in December that was
bigger than previously reported, figures from the Labour Department showed
Friday in Washington. The median forecast called for a 228,000 increase. The
unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent as the improving job market lured more
Americans into the labour force. 

A stronger economy has encouraged companies to boost hiring, creating a
virtuous cycle of growth as Americans spend newfound incomes on goods and
services. Sustained job growth will probably help assure Federal Reserve policy
makers that the expansion is well-rooted and can withstand an increase in
interest rates later this year. Average hourly earnings jumped 0.5
percent, the most since November 2008, from the prior month. They were up 2.2 percent
over the past year, the biggest advance since August. 

Job gains in January were led by retailers, construction firms and health-care
companies. Estimates for payrolls last month ranged from increases of 180,000
to 286,000. The agency’s survey of households, used to derive the unemployment
rate, showed about 1.05 million people entered the labour force and 759,000
found work. These numbers also reflect new estimates on the size of the
population.  The participation rate, which indicates the share of
working-age people in the labour force, increased to 62.9 percent from 62.7
percent in December. 

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