A small improvement in the prospects of UK manufacturing: 53 points in the PMI, reflecting OK growth.
GBP/USD is moving up, retracing some of its earlier losses.
Markit’s UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was expected to tick up from 52.5 points in December to 52.9 points in January.
GBP/USD traded a bit lower on the day, around 1.5050.
This is the first of 3 PMIs. Tomorrow we have the construction PMI followed by the services figure on Wednesday. The services sector is by far the largest in the British economy.
Last week, the UK reported a slightly weaker than expected GDP figure for Q4. The economy is doing well in general, but is also experiencing a slowdown.
