August 2013
Featured in this insight: Financial services, Medical & healthcare
Market research shows UK service sector expanding at fastest pace for six years: The results of the most recently published Services Purchasing Managers’ Index, provided by Markit/CPS, suggest that the UK services sector is growing at the fastest rate since December 2006. The PMI rose from 56.9 in June to 60.2 in July, outpacing economists’ predictions. A PMI figure of above 50 indicates that the industry is growing.
This finding completes a hat-trick of positive results for PMI surveys in July, following robust figures for both the construction and manufacturing variants of the survey earlier in the month. Markit has also stated that the combined UK All Sector PMI, which considers the three in combination, sat at 59.48 – the highest figures since the survey began in 1998.
The UK data is contrast to that of the Eurozone, which showed a shrinking value of 49.8 – suggesting the UK is on a firmer footing than other countries on the continent. This was echoed by Paul Smith, a senior economist at Markit, who suggested that the UK was approaching ‘escape velocity’ and was beginning to move towards ‘self-sustaining economic expansion.’
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