EUR/GBP tumbles below 0.8660 on an increment in UK Claimant Change data

• EUR/GBP has picked offers as numbers of jobless benefits have increased by 6.3k.
• The UK jobless rate has declined to 3.6% vs. the forecast of 3.8%.
• A decent improvement in labor cost index data will delight UK households.

The EUR/GBP pair has slipped below 0.8660 after the release of the addition in UK Claimant Count change data. The UK economy has reported an increase in jobless benefits numbers by 6.3k against the forecast of a decline of 9.2k and the prior decline of 14.5k. UK Office for National Statistics has reported a decline in the Unemployment Rate to 3.6% against the estimates and the prior release of 3.8%.

The Average Hourly Earnings data has improved significantly to 5.2% vs. the expectations of 5.0% and the former figure of 4.7%. This is going to delight the households as it will support them to offset the higher payouts led by ramping up inflation.

Going forward, investors’ entire focus will shift toward the UK inflation data, which will release on Wednesday. As per the estimates, the headline US Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure will shift minutely higher to 10.2%, 10 basis points (bps) higher from the July print. Also, the core PI that excludes fossil fuels and food prices will increase to 6.3%, similarly by 10 bps. This may create more consequences for the households.

Also, it will force the Bank of England (BOE) to come forward with higher interest rates in its September monetary policy meeting. 

On the Eurozone front, the energy crisis has deepened significantly after Russia cut-off energy supply from Nord Stream 1 pipeline. This is going to force the firms to shut down their plants, which have a higher dependency on energy for their production activities. While large-scale firms will display heavy losses in the upcoming result season amid their inability to pass on the impact of higher production costs.