The Monday note - 20 February 2017

• The FTSE 100 closed on Friday at nearly 7,300.0, up 41 points on a week earlier, following upbeat data on jobs. Ten year Gilt yields stood at 1.21%. 
• The employment rate in the UK hit a record high of 74.6% in December 2016, taking the number of people in work to over 31.8 million people. However, pay inflation slowed marginally to 2.6%, down from 2.7% in November. 
• Singapore’s economy grew by 2.0% in 2016, up slightly on the 2015 figure of 1.9%, and better than the initial estimate of 1.8% which was released in January. Growth was supported by a rebound in the final quarter for manufacturing industries. 
• Tech giant, Amazon, plans to create 5,000 new jobs in the UK, including posts in its London head office and in R&D. Since the June 2016 EU referendum, Amazon has twice acquired additional office space in London. 

 Chief Economist comments: 

"Much was made of the slight fall in UK pay rises announced last week. The concern is that many expect inflation to advance towards the 3.0% mark this year, and if wage growth continues to decline then eventually pay rises will be negative in real terms. To balance against this is the tight jobs market, with unemployment remaining stubbornly low and evidence that immigration from the EU fell towards the end of 2016. Wages growth could yet gain fresh momentum on labour shortages as the year advances."