UK jobless claims fell for a second straight month in August, while the consensus was looking for a stabilization. Jobless claims fell by 15 000 in August and also the previous figure was downwardly revised, from -5 000 to -13 600. As a result, the claimant count rate stayed unchanged at a downwardly revised 4.8%, earlier reported as 4.9%. The ILO report on the contrary, came out slightly weaker than expected. The ILO unemployment rate increased to 8.1% in July from 8.0% and a stabilization was forecast. The UK unemployment data might have been influenced by the Olympic Games as the unemployment data seem much stronger than other economic data would suggest. Therefore it will be interesting to see whether the trend remains positive in the coming months.