Wages in the UK continue to rise. Average earnings for a 3-month period increased by 6.9% year-on-year (YoY), slightly higher than the expected 6.8% YoY and the previous level of 6.7% YoY. Meanwhile, wages excluding bonuses grew by 7.3% YoY, exceeding the expected 7.1% YoY and the previous level of 7.2% YoY.
However, the number of unemployment benefit claims increased by 25.7k, reversing the previous decline of 22.5k. The quarterly change in employment amounted to 102 thousand, surpassing the expected 85k but lower than the previous level of 250k.
Despite these positive indicators, the unemployment rate has risen to 4.0% from the previous level of 3.8%.

Pound is currently the strongest currency in the G10, with the potential to rise to 1.30 in the near future. Source: xStation5.
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