020 7898 0500Last week’s data showed us that question marks still remain over the sustainability of UK growth following disappointing purchasing managers’ index data sets for all three industry sectors; services, construction and manufacturing. Whilst the sectors continued to grow, the pace of expansion was subsiding. This in turn will have an impact on growth moving forward.
Friday’s data did little to help sentiment as manufacturing and construction output also fell, according to the Office of National Statistics.
There has been speculation surrounding a potential interest rate hike in the UK recently but after last week’s economic data this may have cooled somewhat. We have three members of the Bank of England finance committee meeting making speeches today and tomorrow, perhaps they will shed some light on such a possibility.
The flow of key economic data is rather slow this week. However, with Brexit and political uncertainty in the UK, there are likely going to be updates that move the currency.
The piece of economic data that will definitely be watched this week will be UK employment figures on Wednesday. The main focus will be on average earnings and markets are eager to see if the headline figure has dropped further from the 2.1% last month. This will be monitored alongside employment data which is also due for release this week.
