GBP/USD Daily Forecast

Wednesday, Aug 16 2017

Focus of the yesterday's session was on UK job figures. There were 32.07 million people in work, 125,000 more than for January to March 2017 and 338,000 more than for a year earlier. The employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 who were in work) was 75.1%, the highest since comparable records began in 1971. There were 883,000 people (not seasonally adjusted) in employment on “zero-hours contracts” in their main job, 20,000 fewer than for a year earlier. The unemployment rate (the proportion of those in work plus those unemployed, that were unemployed) was 4.4%, down from 4.9% for a year earlier and the lowest since 1975.

In the US session Building Permits and Housing Starts data was published. Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,223,000. This is 4.1 percent below the revised June rate of 1,275,000, but is 4.1 percent above the July 2016 rate of 1,175,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 811,000; this is unchanged from the revised June figure of 811,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 377,000 in July. Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,155,000.

Tomorrow's session will bring UK Retail Sales figures. Increase by 0.2% is forecasted.. In the US session Unemployment Claims, Philly Fed Manufacturing Index and Industrial Production data will be published. Analysts predict incline by 0.3% in Industrial Production, while Unemployment Claims should decline to 240,000 and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index to 18.3.

Figures to watch:

Retail Sales (Thursday 10:30)

Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)

Philly Fed Manufacturing Index (Thursday 14:30)

Industrial Production (Thursday 15:15)

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