Yesterday David Cameron told the Tory conference that he had a new gesture for Ed Balls – a finger pointing upwards to indicate a stream of positive figures on the economy. You can almost imagine him doing it today at his desk in Downing Street after reading the latest figures on the service sector.
Markit/CIPS’ Purchasing Managers Index of activity recorded a level of 60.3, a slight decrease from August’s seven-year high of 60.5, but enough to give the UK’s best quarter for the services sector since 1997. Any number above 50 indicates growth. The level of growth, according to research from Citi’s Michael Saunders, could be consistent with an annualised GDP growth rate of between 4 and 6 per cent.
Markit’s survey also revealed that companies cannot cope with the new business they have won. And in order to deal with it, they’re hiring more staff.
The latest round of analysts’ estimates, collated
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