GBP
Yesterday we had The UK’s unemployment rate which fell to 6.6% in the three
months to April down from 6.8%. It  was a bigger fall than expected and
the lowest since 2009. Full time jobs moved up 263,000 while an extra 81,000
people found part time work.

The number of long term unemployed fell sharply, with the the number of people
out of work for over 12 months fell 37,000 to 791,000. 

With this being said weekly earnings rose by just 0.7% in the three months to

GBP
Yesterday we had The UK’s unemployment rate which fell to 6.6% in the three
months to April down from 6.8%. It  was a bigger fall than expected and
the lowest since 2009. Full time jobs moved up 263,000 while an extra 81,000
people found part time work.

The number of long term unemployed fell sharply, with the the number of people
out of work for over 12 months fell 37,000 to 791,000. 

With this being said weekly earnings rose by just 0.7% in the three months to
April, which is substantially below inflation, which hit 1.8% in April.It’s
partly due to the impact of the abolition of the UK 50% tax rate With many
big-earners deferred their bonuses until April 2013, to benefit from the lower
tax rate.

On the other hand, it appears that UK productivity may have fallen, even while
the economy was creating more jobs.A report yesterday shows that the total
number of hours worked in February-April rose by 1.5%, compared to the previous
quarter. That’s faster than the 1.1% increase in output across the global
economy, meaning that each hour of work actually produced less end-product.

NZD
New Zealand’s dollar headed for its biggest daily gain in four months
yesterday, after the central bank raised interest rates to 3.25%. This is the
third consecutive rise in as many meetings and the RBNZ hinted
at further increases, perhaps one more by the end of the year.

Today
We have had Australia’s unemployment rate for May Released this morning which
remained at 5.8%.

A total of 4,800 positions were lost last month.
Full-time jobs jumped by 22,200, but part-time positions fell by 27,000 to take
the number of people employed in the country to 11.564 million

This afternoon we have jobless claims in the US and retail sales growth,
both expected to be positive so we should see some dollar
strength in the afternoon. 

Key Announcements:
13:30 – USD- Initial Jobless claims expected to fall from 312,000 to
310,000
13:30 – USD- Retail sales (May) expected to rise from 0.1% to 6%

Our dealers are available via e-mail ([email protected]) or by phone (020 3051 1226).