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Manufacturing PMI fall to lowest since 2012

• Posted by currencies in Bank of England, Bremain, Brexit, Currency, GBP, Sterling, UK, Uncategorised
• January 3, 2020
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British factory output fell in December at the fastest rate since 2012 as a tepid global economy hurt demand and businesses further reduced stocks of goods they had built up in case of a no-deal Brexit, a survey showed.

The output gauge in the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 45.6 from 49.1 in November, its lowest since July 2012. Readings below 50 denote contraction.

The broader headline PMI, which combines gauges of output, employment and orders, fell to 47.5 from 48.9.

British house prices rose in annual terms by more than 1% for the first time in 12 months in December, but uncertainty about Brexit is likely to weigh on the market again in 2020, mortgage lender Nationwide said this morning.

House prices increased by 1.4% compared with December 2018, Nationwide said, in line with the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

In December alone, house prices rose by 0.1%, compared with a median forecast in the poll for no change.

British shop prices fell in December for the seventh month running as retailers ramped up discounts to attract shoppers in the run-up to Christmas, an industry survey showed on Friday.

Store prices measured between Dec. 2 and Dec. 6 were 0.4% lower than a year earlier, after a 0.5% annual drop in early November, according to the British Retail Consortium and market research company Nielsen.

Britain’s official measure of consumer price inflation, which covers a wider range of goods and services, held at 1.5% in November, its joint-lowest rate since November 2016.