GBP: Acceptable jobs numbers – ING

The UK released July jobs data this morning. Payrolls fell by just 8k – best since January – and June was revised up to -26k (from -41k). This aligns with recent hiring surveys showing signs of recovery, ING's FX analyst Francesco Pesole notes.

GBP is trading on the strong side this morning

"While the labour market is cooler than earlier this year and softer than in other major economies, there's no clear signal yet for the Bank of England to accelerate rate cuts. As seen in August, the MPC remains relatively unfazed by jobs data. We're still expecting a cut in November, but stronger payrolls or hotter inflation could delay further easing."

"Pound Sterling (GBP) is trading on the strong side this morning as jobs figures were seen as slightly upbeat, and EUR/GBP may well test 0.860 in the coming days. Nevertheless, we expect a return to 0.870 later in the summer on the back of our BoE call."