Details of the November 2016 UK Markit/CIPS services PMI report 5 December 2016
Prior 54.5
New orders 54.9 vs 55.7 prior
Composite 55.2 vs 54.6 exp. Prior 54.8. Revised to 54.7
New orders 54.9 vs 55.8 prior
Looks good on paper but underneath it's not all a bed of roses. Sentiment was at the lowest since July, with politics and inflation the main reasons for that. Input prices are still running high but they came off the boil for the first time since May.
On the good news side, employment was the strongest since Apr.
"The further upturn in the vast services sector shows that the pace of UK economic growth remains resiliently robust in the fourth quarter, despite ongoing uncertainty caused by Brexit.
The three PMI surveys collectively indicate that the economy will grow by 0.5% in the fourth quarter.
Rising prices - often linked to the weaker pound -are a big concern, however, and suggest that inflation is set to lift higher. The past two months have seen the steepest rise in businesses' costs for over five-and-a-half years. These higher costs will inevitably feed through to consumers in the form of higher prices." Said Chris Williamson at Markit.
A rather muted reaction in the quid as it rose around 26 pips from 1.2709.
UK services PMI
