Proactive Investors -
- Lead index to open flat
- Unemployment beats expectations at 3.8% in December
- Bitcoin hits $50,000
Bitcoin rockets above $50,000
Checking in on the cryptocurrency market before stock trading commences, we’ve seen bitcoin (BTC) rocket above $50,000 for the first in over two years.
This is the result of large-scale inflows into newly launched spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds from the likes of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Fidelity.
The BTC/USD pair peaked at $50,400 in the early hours, but has since crept back to $50,100.
UK wage growth increases 5.8%
UK weekly wages saw a modest year-on-year increase of 5.8% to £669, marking the slowest growth in 17 months yet edging past predictions by a narrow margin.
The rise, albeit minimal, surpassed the anticipated 5.6% hike.
Both the public and private sectors witnessed a deceleration in wage growth, dipping to 5.8% and 5.9% respectively from a previous 6.7%.
Excluding bonuses, regular pay climbed to £626, experiencing its weakest expansion in 14 months at 6.2%, still slightly ahead of the 6% forecasted.
The hospitality and retail sector led with the highest annual growth rate at 7.2%, closely followed by manufacturing and finance at 6.9% and 6.7% respectively.
When adjusted for inflation, real wage growth for total pay including bonuses cooled off to 1.4%, while regular pay saw a more significant real term increase to 1.8%.