UK wages rose by 3.5% 3m y/y in February, meet estimates

The UK wages excluding bonuses rose by 3.4% y/y compared to 3.4% y/y expected.
The UK wages including bonuses rose by 3.5% y/y compared to 3.5% y/y expected.
The UK unemployment rate steadied at 3.9% in February.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday, the UK’s average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses met expectations, arriving at 3.4% 3m y/y in February versus 3.5% last and 3.4% expected while the gauge including bonuses came in 3.5% 3m y/y in February versus 3.5% previous and 3.5% expected.

The Kingdom’s official jobless rate held steady at 3.9% in February, while the claimant count change showed a bigger-than-expected increase.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits rose by 28.3k in March, against expectations of a 20k increase and +26.7k seen previously. The claimant count rate rose to 3.0%.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD advances above 1.1800 ahead of German inflation data

EUR/USD stretches higher above 1.1800 in the European session on Friday, helped by sustained US Dollar weakness. Attention now turns toward the release of the preliminary inflation data for February from Germany and its major states during the day.

GBP/USD struggles near 1.3500 amid UK political drama, BoE easing bias

GBP/USD struggles to build on the overnight modest bounce from the weekly low and oscillates in a narrow band near 1.3500 in European trading on Friday. The Gorton and Denton by-election, held on February 26, has become a focal point of political drama in the UK, along with the Bank of England (BoE) easing expectations, acts as a headwind for the British Pound and the GBP/USD pair.

Gold flat lines below $5,200; traders look to US PPI for fresh impetus

Gold struggles to capitalize on its modest gains registered over the past two days and trades below the $5,200 mark through the first half of the European session on Friday. Geopolitical risks remain in play amid a large US naval and air power buildup in the Middle East.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate with short-term cautious bullish bias

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are consolidating near key technical areas on Friday, showing mild signs of stabilization after recent volatility. BTC holds above $67,000 despite mild losses so far this week, while ETH hovers around $2,000 after a rejection near its upper consolidation boundary.

Changing the game: International implications of recent tariff developments

The Supreme Court ruling on International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs provides limited relief for the rest of the world, with weighted average tariff rates modestly lower.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.