The price of goods bought and sold by UK manufacturers, as estimated by the Producer Price Index, continued to fall in the year to June 2016. Factory gate prices (output prices) for goods produced by UK manufacturers fell 0.4% in the year to June 2016, compared with a fall of 0.6% in the year to May 2016. Core factory gate prices, which exclude the more volatile food, beverage, tobacco and petroleum products, rose 0.7% in the year to June 2016, compared with a rise of 0.6% in the year to May 2016.
Wednesday's session brought UK job data. Between the 3 months to February 2016 and March to May 2016, the number of people in work increased. The number of unemployed people and the number of people not working and not seeking or available to work (economically inactive) fell. There were 31.70 million people in work, 176,000 more than for the 3 months to February 2016 and 624,000 more than for a year earlier. For June 2016 there were 759,100 people claiming unemployment related benefits. This was little changed compared with May 2016 and 33,900 fewer than for a year earlier.
There were 23.19 million people working full-time, 401,000 more than for a year earlier. There were 8.52 million people working part-time, 223,000 more than for a year earlier. The employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 who were in work) was 74.4%, the highest since comparable records began in 1971. The unemployment rate was 4.9%, down from 5.6% for a year earlier. The last time it was lower was for July to September 2005. The unemployment rate is the proportion of the labour force (those in work plus those unemployed) that were unemployed.
Thursday's session was marked by UK Retail Sales data. The volume of retail sales in June 2016 is estimated to have increased by 4.3% compared with June 2015. The underlying pattern in the quantity bought, as suggested by the 3 month on 3 month movement, increased by 1.6%. Compared with May 2016, the quantity bought in the retail industry is estimated to have decreased by 0.9%. Average store prices (including petrol stations) fell by 2.5% in June 2016 compared with June 2015.
On Friday, from the UK, Manufacturing and Services PMI figures were released. The UK economy opened the third quarter on a weak footing. Flash UK Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.1 from 52.1 in June, what is a 41-month low, while Flash UK Services PMI Activity Index dropped to 47.4 from 52.3 in June what is a 88-month low. Data were collected between July 12-21. The weaker performance of the UK economy during July was especially striking when looking at the month-on-month movements in the index levels. The Composite Output and the Composite New Orders indices fell by 4.7 and 6.8 points respectively since June, the steepest drops registered in the series histories.
This week markets will be looking at:
Prelim GDP (Wednesday 10:30)
Net Lending to Individuals (Friday 10:30)
