- Manufacturing sector recovers slightly in August after contracting in July.
- British pound fails to capitalize on the data.
In its latest monthly Industrial Trends Survey, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said that following July’s drop, the manufacturing output in the UK stabilised in the three months to August with the headline total orders book balance improving to -13% from -34%.
Despite this relatively upbeat reading, however, the British pound struggled to find demand and was last seen trading at 1.2089 against the dollar, losing 0.3% on the day. Below are some key takeaways from the CBI’s press release.
“Manufacturers expect output to remain broadly unchanged in the coming quarter, with 24% predicting growth, and 25% a decline, giving a balance of -1%.”
“Expectations for growth in average selling prices for the coming three months (-2%) were at their lowest balance since February 2016.”
“24% of businesses said the volume of output over the past three months was up, and 27% said it was down, giving a balance of -3% (from -11% in July, long-run average of +4%).”
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