Release Explanation: This release measures the change in the prices that businesses and governments pay for labor. Although, this report does not take into account all sources of household income but the labor cash earnings does accurately reflect the spending ability of domestic households, which is one of the driving forces of economic growth.
Trade Desk Thoughts: The annual rate of growth in average earnings excluding bonuses was 3.6% in the three months to November 2008, unchanged from the three months to October. Including bonuses, it was 3.1%, down 0.2 percentage points from the three months to October.
Forex Technical Reaction: From the high reached in the Asian session, the pound tumbled nearly 300 pips during the European trading hours. The bad fundamentals coming out of the U.K. lately has dragged the pair to a 8 year low. Today’s news releases produced a weak, as the pair moved only 20 pips.