The latest summary of business conditions from the Bank of England have highlighted:
- Consumer services and retail sales turnover had risen moderately.
- Housing market activity remained below that of a year earlier
- Investment intentions for the next twelve months were consistent with moderate growth overall
- Manufacturing output growth, both for the domestic market and for export, had edged lower
- Construction output growth had continued to ease on a year earlier
- Employment intentions had edged higher and were consistent with modest headcount growth overall.
- Capacity utilisation had remained at broadly normal levels in manufacturing, but slightly above normal for services
- Output prices had fallen on a year earlier for manufacturers, although they had risen moderately for business services firms
- Profitability growth had edged higher for services, but had fallen for manufacturers
- Consumer price inflation had remained negative for goods. Retail service prices had continued to increase modestly
