U.K. unemployment edges down to 7.7%.

As in the U.S., the improvement in the U.K. jobless picture continues to be hard-going. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.7% in May-July from 7.8% in February-April, while the number of unemployed fell by 24,000 to around 2.49M. The pound spiked following the data but then dropped back a bit and was +0.2% at $1.5764 at the time of writing.