020 7898 0500Sterling rose across the board for a second day running as the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from the services industry pointed towards strong growth within the sector. As the July figures showed the strongest level of growth in 2014 and the services sector makes up around two-thirds of the UK economy, sterling markets reacted positively to post the highest levels against the US dollar and euro since the end of July. Despite being able to sustain this level against the euro and even gain further ground this morning, impressive manufacturing data from the US saw the dollar rally late in the afternoon to leave it largely unchanged against sterling.
Today sees the release of manufacturing production figures, which investors will hope to be more promising than last week’s PMI data from the same industry. As manufacturing accounts for the majority of industrial production, this often has more impact than the general industrial production figure.
