UK Average Earnings incl. Bonus (Jun 3MYr) 4.1% vs. Exp. 4.1% (Prev. 4.4%)

An in-line print on UK average earnings with the prior unrevised sits in the least market-moving category of this series; gilts and sterling have historically responded to surprises on this metric, not confirmations of it, so any initial repricing tends to be limited and short-lived. The more durable signal is the deceleration embedded in the sequence, since wage growth momentum has been one of the primary inputs into the MPC's assessment of domestic inflation persistence and the timing of easing, and a downward drift that meets consensus still feeds the doves' argument. The distinction worth drawing is between the headline including-bonus measure and the regular-pay series: bonus volatility has repeatedly distorted the former, and the MPC's own commentary has leaned toward underlying and private-sector pay as the cleaner read on persistence. The natural follow-ons are the accompanying unemployment rate and claimant count in the same release, the single-month annualised run rate which often moves more sharply than the smoothed 3M/Yr figure, and whether subsequent MPC rhetoric treats the deceleration as sufficient or still too elevated against the inflation target. Data of this kind also gains weight when it lands close to a policy meeting, since it is among the last wage reads the committee sees.