Depressing news on manufacturing
Another day another dolour … today’s data come from the Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index. The PMI is based on a monthly survey of what is happening to stocks, orders, output and purchases and today’s 53.4 is not only lower than the 53.7 it stood at in August, it is the lowest for ten months.
On the brighter side, any score over 50 is a sign of growth, so what we’re seeing today is slowing growth, rather than a return to recession. But the fact that new export orders declined for the first time since July 2009 is worrying – to a large extent, the coalition’s economic hopes rest on increased exports. The survey reports “reduced sales to clients in mainland Europe, the US and Russia”, which is definitely not what we are hoping for.
Mike Andrew
Oct 4th 2010, 6:59 am
A little growth is way much better than being stagnant. This is good news, making our way out of the recession.