A significant decline in the index of business activity in the service sector in the UK from 54.5 to 51.7 started the process of weakening the pound. Already towards evening, the currency was under pressure due to data on applications for unemployment benefits in the US, which fell by 40, 000, which was significantly better than forecasts.
The central event of the day is the publication of the report of the US Department of Labor, which can further strengthen the dollar. The unemployment rate is expected to decrease from 4.1% to 4.0%, and the growth rate of the average hourly wage is likely to accelerate from 2.6% to 2.7%. Similarly, the share of labor in the total population should increase from 63.0% to 63.5%. The number of new jobs, apparently, will be 193,000, while in the previous month 313, 000 jobs were created. However, this will not affect investors in any way, since all other indicators look very good.
The pound/dollar pair is expected to decline to 1.3925.
