Market Brief
According to a report published by the Office for National Statistics this morning, the United Kingdom’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points in January to 3.9%, bringing it back to its pre-pandemic level. During the same period, the employment rate improved by 0.1% to 75.6%, according to the report, remaining one point below the pre-crisis figure. While total working hours increased, they remained lower than in February 2020.
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China’s industrial production rose 7.5% year-over-year in the first two months of 2022, exceeding analysts’ projections, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics announced during the Asia-Pac session. This is an increase of 3.2 percentage points compared to December of last year. The rising COVID-19 infections through China have sent the indices lower once again. The Nikkei225 hasn’t been able to get out of Fridays price range this week but is looking weaker.
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In its latest monetary policy meeting minutes, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) acknowledged the recent increase in market volatility and agreed that Russia’s military operation in Ukraine was a “major new source of uncertainty” for economic recovery. It stated that it is committed to maintaining highly supportive monetary conditions until actual inflation falls within its target range of 2 to 3 percent. The AUDUSD bounced off the rising trend line and could be heading back up towards the 0.73000 level as the DXY comes off its highs.
The euro is once again the relative strongest currency on hopes of a ceasefire from the Ukraine/Russia talks this week and on news that Russia is not trying to currently take the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. We are also waiting for the ZEW economic survey which could be a catalyst for a reversal.
