The CIPS/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has today revealed UK manufacturing activity grew at its fastest rate since October 1994 in March.
The closely-watched CIPS/Markit manufacturing PMI climbed to 57.2 in March from 56.5 the previous month.
The index has exceeded the crucial 50 mark, which represents growth, since July 2009 and March’s figure just exceeded [...]
US consumer confidence recovered in March after taking a dive in February.
The closely-monitored Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board rose to 52.5 in March, up from the 46.4 reading in the previous month.
However, despite the rise, the index still remains far away from the 90 points required to show that the world’s largest [...]
The Commerce Department has revealed that the world’s no.1 economy grew at a slower rate in the fourth quarter than previous estimates showed.
According to official figures, the US economy grew by an annualised 5.6% between the October and December period, rather than the 5.9% and the 5.7% previously estimated.
For the whole of 2009, GDP fell [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today reported a sharp fall in business investment.
According to the ONS, business investment fell by 4.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009 to £27.3 billion – the steepest annual fall since records commenced in 1967.
Meanwhile, on an annual basis, business investment fell by a record 23.5%.
However, the figures [...]
The latest global economic research by Baring Asset Management’s (Barings) suggests that of the major global economies, the UK looks most vulnerable to a renewed dip into recession.
According to Barings, there is a slightly higher risk of the UK falling back into recession than there was a few weeks ago.
However, should the UK [...]