The pound is getting clobbered
The pound is taking a hammering this week.
It fell more than 1% against the dollar on Friday after the U.S. added more jobs than forecasted.
All this means that the Federal Reserve could hike rates by the end of the year, boosting the value of the dollar.
Here's what that looked like:
Data out Friday morning showed that the US economy added 271,000 jobs in October - the strongest pace of employment growth this year. This is nearly 100,000 jobs more than the consensus forecast for 182,000.
The unemployment rate dropped to 5%, the lowest level since 2008. Economists consider a 5% rate to indicate full employment. It signals that the world's biggest economy will likely be the first to raise rates since the 2008 financial crisis ushered in an era of loose monetary policy.
Meanwhile the Bank of England look set to keep rates lower for longer. The rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 8-1 to keep interest rates where they are on Thursday. The pound fell about 1% on Thursday.
The U.S. jobs data gave the UK's FTSE 100 index a heart attack as investors tried to digest the news. The index is down 0.05% as of 1:57 p.m. UK time.
Here's how that looked:
