- Prior 60.5
- New business 60.1 from 58.8 prior
- Employment, prices & confidence all up
- Composite 57.4 vs 58.2 exp. Prior 59.3 Lowest since June 2013
- Comp new orders 58.4 vs 57.7 prior
A turnaround on new business from last month means that the pound may not fall on the headline. Markit says that the PMI points to Q3 GDP of 0.8% and there is a risk of a Q4 slowdown.
GBP/USD held up at 1.6100 but has now slipped back below to 1.6080
Chris Williamson at Markit sums up the conundrum for the BOE nicely;
“The slowdown is in line with Bank of England projections and, alongside record low pay growth, adds to the case for interest rates to remain on hold until next year, and at least until there are clear signs of wages and household incomes rising in
real terms.The strong pace of job creation signalled by the PMI surveys should eventually lead to higher pay growth and rising personal incomes, something which we expect to see materialise towards the end of the year and putting pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates in the first half of next year.”
UK Services PMI 03 10 2014
