The latest UK labour market figures today fuelled speculation about an imminent hike in interest rates, with the unemployment rate dropping to 4.5% and economists increasingly worried about mounting wage pressures.
Capital Economics warned the figures from the Office for National Statistics may prompt some members of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to put more weight on the upside risks to inflation. The price pressures have recently raised the prospect that the Bank’s base rate could be lifted as soon as December.
Global markets dipped overnight and the FTSE 100 index was 56 points lower after Brent crude topped $84 a barrel for the first time in three years.
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