The UK services sector hit a three-month low in September, potentially signalling the end of the UK\u2019s growth spurt.\u00a0 The survey, released by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS), shows that the purchasing managers\u2019 index (PMI) dropped from 59.7 in August to a six-month low of 58.1 in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The findings come a month after it was announced that CIPS\u2019 PMI was at a 10-month high of 60.5, rising from 59.1 in July, representing the sharpest monthly increase within that period.<\/p>\n
Any figure above 50 still indicates expansion, but for many the drop represents the slowing down of the UK\u2019s burgeoning growth over the past 18 months, and will ease the pressure on banks to increase interest rates.<\/p>\n
Chris Williamson, Markit\u2019s chief economist, said: \u201cSeptember\u2019s PMI survey suggests that the UK most likely enjoyed another spell of above-trend economic growth in the third quarter, but the recovery appears to be losing its legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar recent surveys have also pointed to a slowing down of the UK and EU\u2019s manufacturing sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe slowdown is in line with Bank of England projections and, alongside record low pay growth, adds to the case for interest rates to remain on hold until next year, and at least until there are clear signs of wages and household incomes rising in real terms,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n
However, employment growth in the services sector increased in September, which is a silver lining for those concerned that the sector\u2019s expansion may have stifled.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Rob Wood, chief UK economist at German bank Berenberg, said: \u201cWe are cautious about growth over the next six months.\u00a0 Eurozone growth has disappointed, geopolitical risks have risen this year, the forthcoming general election creates domestic political risks and the majority of the public expect rate hikes with the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny of those could slow UK growth a little in the near-term.\u00a0 We look for GBP growth to slow to 0.6% in the fourth quarter before picking up again through next year as many of the risks ease.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UK services sector hit a three-month low in September, potentially signalling the end of the UK\u2019s growth spurt.\u00a0 The survey, released by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS), shows that the purchasing managers\u2019 index (PMI) dropped from 59.7 in August to a six-month low of 58.1 in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}