Only Construction PMI was release from the U.K on Tuesday. U.K. Construction PMI registered 60.1 in February, up from 59.1 in January and above the neutral 50.0 threshold for the twenty-second successive month. Analysts were expecting no change. The latest reading picked up further from December’s recent low and signalled a sharp expansion of construction output that was the fastest since October 2014. Residential, commercial and civil engineering activity all increased at the steeper rates in February.
Wednesday was marked with U.K Services PMI data. Services PMI recorded 56.7 in February, compared to January’s 57.2. Analysts were expecting no change. Growth has now been registered for 26 months in a row, and the latest reading remained comfortably above the survey average ( data have been collected continuously since July 1996).
BoE released its interest rate decision on Thursday. As it was largely anticipated, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee at its meeting today voted to maintain Bank Rate at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of purchased assets financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
This week markets will be looking at:
Manufacturing Production/ Industrial Production (Wednesday 10:30)
Trade Balance (Thursday 10:30)
