British Pound Mostly Lower as Job Losses Add Up, Average Earnings Fall

The British pound lagged against most of the majors, despite news that UK jobless claims only rose by 20,800 in September, the smallest increase since May 2008, pushing the claimant count rate up to 5.0 percent from a downwardly revised 4.9 percent. Likewise, the number of people looking for work between June and August rose by 88,000, the smallest increase since the period of May through July 2008. Nevertheless, mounting job losses do not bode well for the consumption outlook, especially since average earnings excluding bonuses slowed to an annual pace of 1.9 percent in the three months through August, the weakest result since at least 2001.