Shares of Spanish telecoms company Telefonica fell 4.6% in early trade to the bottom of the Stoxx 600, while at the top of the index, Germany's Wacker Chemie added 4.4%.Britain's unemployment rate rose to 3.7% in the three months to October, up from 3.6% in the three months to September, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.
Despite the apparent cooling the labor market, regular pay jumped by 6.1% in the period between August and October, above expectations but well below inflation, which came in at a 41-year-high of 11.1% in October. "With the Bank of England already fearing the country is in a recession, labor market conditions remain tight with fewer foreign workers and increased hesitancy among people to take up new roles due to increased economic uncertainty, said Marcus Brookes, chief investment officer at Quilter Investors.
"With employment remaining lower than it was before the pandemic, the U.K. is badly lagging its peers in developed economies and may be in need of a policy boost to fix its labor market conundrum and get more people who are economically inactive back into work."The German consumer price index rose by 10% year-on-year in November, shrinking by 0.5% from the previous month, in line with forecasts.