Wot no double dip? Not yet, as the FT reports:
British manufacturing output continued to grow strongly in July, according to the latest purchasing managers’ index, even though sentiment dipped marginally from June.
The measure of activity edged down to 57.3 from 57.6, still a very high reading that beat City forecasts of a drop to 57.0.
As manufacturing recovers from the deep slump of the recession, these readings are naturally high. The July figure was still not far from the 15-year high of 58.1 reached in May.
The signs are strong then that the third-quarter GDP figures for the UK will continue to surprise to the upside. However it has to be said the UK export renaissance has been disappointing:
But further signs that the export sector is lagging came from another drop in the export orders element of the PMI index, which fell to its lowest level since August 2009. Compensating for the drop in export orders was a rise in domestic new orders, suggesting that momentum in the UK economy remained strong.
Given that everyone else has spent six months saying the UK economy has fallen off a cliff, I’ll take the compromise.
(Source: FT)
