Wednesday's session was marked by Services PMI data. Service sector growth in the UK stabilised at a solid pace in December, according to the latest PMI survey data from Markit and CIPS. Total activity rose at a strong overall rate, supported by a sharp rise in new business. Employment increased at a robust pace, albeit the weakest in five months. Reflecting this, outstanding business continued to grow only modestly in December, and firms’ longer-term expectations for business activity were the weakest since early-2013. The index fell slightly to 55.5, from 55.9 in November, but remained just above the long-run survey trend level of 55.2, indicative of solid overall growth.
Friday brought UK Trade Balance data. The UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services was estimated to have been £3.2 billion in November 2015, a narrowing of £0.3 billion from October 2015. The narrowing is attributed to trade in goods where the deficit has narrowed from £11.2 billion in October 2015, to £10.6 billion in November 2015. This was in line with market forecasts. Between October 2015 and November 2015, the trade in goods narrowing was mainly the result of a fall in the import of goods of £0.9 billion to £33.9 billion. The narrowing is mainly attributed to a fall in imports of oil which decreased by £0.5 billion to £2.2 billion.
This week markets will be looking at:
Industrial Production (Tuesday 10:30)
Monetary Policy Summary (Thursday 13:00)
