UK’s Manufacturing Contracts 0.4% in October

Britain’s manufacturers cut back output by 0.4% in October, partly reversing a strong performance the previous month, and underlining warnings of a tough winter for the sector.

Official figures showed that while George Osborne has pledged to unleash a “march of the makers”, manufacturing output in October stood 0.1% lower than the same month in 2014 – and remains 6.1% below its pre-recession peak.

Overall industrial production, which includes mining and utilities, as well as manufacturing, increased just 0.1% in October on the previous month, and 1.7% higher than a year earlier; but economists pointed out that the rise was driven by a sharp swing in gas output.

“Industrial production only edged up in October due to erratic movements in its volatile components,” said Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Pantheon Macro. “The 0.4% month-to-month fall in core manufacturing output is another sign that the strong pound is starting to stifle the economic recovery, and the continued weakness of the manufacturing surveys suggest further falls lie ahead.”

via The Guardian

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza