For the 3 months to October the unemployment rate and wage growth readings are expected to remain unchanged at 4.8% and 2.3% respectively. Perhaps more indicative of where the country sits will be the claimant count change figure for November, which is forecast to increase by 6.2k. The jobless claims reading is incredibly volatile; for the last 7 out of 8 months the figure has been revised higher, something that doesn’t bode well for October’s figure considering the initial estimate was just shy of 10000 new claimants.
The FTSE doesn’t seem too excited at the prospect of all this, dipping nearly half a percent after the bell – the index did admittedly near 7000 during Tuesday, however, so this decline isn’t particularly drastic. As for the pound, it couldn’t build on 1.265 against the dollar, while against the euro it remained just above 1.19 after a 0.1% fall.
The Eurozone was just as sluggish as the FTSE this morning, with the DAX and CAC dropping 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. It seems that the region’s indices are pulling back slightly after yesterday’s Unicredit-led banking sector growth; Unicredit itself has slipped around 2.5%, though that is nothing compared to the near 15% increase it saw on Thursday. The Eurozone doesn’t have much to deal with this Wednesday, so all eyes will be on Monte dei Paschi in particular, as Italy’s oldest bank tries to secure its much-needed €5 billion in capital.
