The day ended up being dominated by reports that UK and EU negotiators have agreed a Brexit withdrawal agreement text. We will find out more today and whether we can expect May’s Cabinet to agree the terms. However, on any other day, reports that UK average earnings excluding bonus hit their highest mark for ten years would have dominated headlines.
The positive news was slightly tempered by unemployment figures which showed the jobless rate surprisingly hit 4.1% in the three months to September. The release is a little confusing, as the number of people unemployed in the UK rose by 21,000 in July to September, but the number of people in work rose by 23,000. A total of 32.41 million people are in work which is the highest total since records began in 1971.
On what is another busy day for major economic data releases, we will see the UK’s inflation rate for October. Last time, the figure came in at 2.4% which was some way below market expectations of 2.6%. Inflation is expected to have risen to 2.5% last month, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the actual figure differed from this.
