Trade Balance figures beat prediction on deficit of £9.5 billion. Seasonally adjusted, the UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services was estimated to have been £1.4 billion in November 2014, compared with £2.2 billion in October 2014. This reflects a deficit of £8.8 billion on goods, partly offset by an estimated surplus of £7.4 billion on services.
US session was marked by NFP report. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 252,000 in December, above expected increase by 241,000. In 2014, job growth averaged 246,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 194,000 in 2013. In December, employment increased in professional and business services, construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing.
The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6% in December, beating predictions on decline to 5.7%, and the number of unemployed persons declined by 383,000 to 8.7 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.1% and 1.7 million, respectively.
Monday's session should be less volatile as there will be no data releases both from UK and USA. We believe that trading will be in a tighter-range with traders being cautious ahead of Tuesday's UK CPI data.
