Britain’s jobless rate falls – it was last lower in 1975 - but wages are feeling the pinch. UK unemployment fell in the three months to January to 4.7% but there’s also been a slowdown in wage growth, now down to 2.2% from 2.6% - which means they are still above inflation but that gap has narrowed and wages are now growing at the slowest rate since April of last year.
The price of oil rebounding from the three-month low. This came after Goldman Sachs said OPEC's compliance with output cuts remained high. This is despite an official report this week which showed a rise in global crude stocks as well as a production jump from Saudi Arabia. Technically, though, oil remains weak after dropping sharply below support from a trendline connecting the higher lows on the daily chart that had been in place since early December.
Shares of the Spanish BANKIA rose after Spain's bank bailout fund told the nationalised bank – it can merge with Banco Mare Nostrum – also state owned. The fund said – joined – the banks would be more likely to recover public aid pumped in to the struggling banks during the crisis. Both banks were badly hit by Spain's economic crisis after the property market crash, which began in 2007, and were bailed out with almost 24 billion euros of public money in 2013.
Later today, the US Federal Reserve will meet to raise rates by another 25-bps, according to Senior Currency Strategist Christopher Vecchio. We'll be hosting live data coverage for the FOMC release, with Chief Strategist John Kicklighter anchoring coverage starting at 13:45 EDT/17:45 GMT - you can register here.
--- Written by Katie Pilbeam, DailyFX