UK unemployment rate beats with 3.9% in June, claims disappoint with +94.4 in July, GBP/USD shakes

The UK was expected to report an increase of the unemployment rate to 4.2% in June from 3.9% in May. Economists estimated that wages would fall 1.1% year on year when including bonuses in June, a sharper fall than 0.3% in May. Excluding extra pay, a drop of 0.1% was on the cards, compared with an increase of 0.7% beforehand. 

The Claimant Count Change – also known as jobless claims – carried expectations for an increase of 10,000 in July after a drop of 28,100 in June. GBP/USD was trading steadily below 1.31 ahead of the publication, edging up amid some dollar weakness.