UK Stats Deliver GBP Support While COVID-19 Sinks the FTSE100

It was relatively busy on the UK economic calendar this morning. Key stats included claimant count and unemployment change figures along with the UK’s unemployment rate.

The stats were skewed to the positive, providing Pound support going into the UK session.

According to the Office for National Statistics,

• The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 3.9% in January, with job vacancies up to a new record of 1,318,000.
• On a rolling 3/M basis, employment slipped by 12k after falling by 38k in December.
• While the 3/M rolling figure was disappointing, claimant counts continued to slide. In February, claimant counts slid by 48.1k, following a 67.3k tumble in January.

Market Impact

Ahead of today’s stats, the Pound fell to a pre-stat and current-day low of $1.2999 before striking a pre-stat and current-day high of $1.30515.

In response to today’s employment figures, the Pound rose to a post-stat high of $1.30515 before falling to a post-stat low of $1.30176.

At the time of writing, the Pound was up by 0.19% to $1.30626. With the markets expecting the FED and the BoE to lift rates this week, market risk appetite remains the key driver for the Pound.

While the Pound responded positively to this morning’s numbers, it has been a bearish start for the FTSE100. The Hang Seng and the CSI300 weighed on the FTSE100. Today, the Hang Seng Index slumped by 5.72%, with the CSI300 sliding by 4.57%. At the time of writing, the FTSE100 was down by 1.34% to 7,076.15.

A reported surge in COVID-19 cases in China, resulting in new lockdown measures and fears of further supply chain disruption, hit the 100. Mining stocks were among the worst hit , with Rio Tinto (-4.16%), Anglo American (-3.06%), and Glencore (-3.01%) seeing heavy losses.

Market sentiment towards Russia’s continued bombing of Ukraine added to the market angst this morning.