5 May 2023 - Economy beginning to show some resilience
The composite Purchasing Managers Index which shows the output for the manufacturing and services sectors combined climbed further away from contraction last month, reaching 54.9 after a reading of 53.9 in March. This places the threat of a recession firmly in the rearview mirror for the Government and should allow the Bank of England to continue to concentrate on bringing inflation down, closer to its target of 2%. The Monetary Policy Committee meets next week with a decision on short-term interest rates to be announced on Thursday. The PMIs are becoming a further economic indicator for analysts and the data for the construction sector will be published later this morning. The expectation is for the sector to stay in expansive territory, but the data reflect the difficulties in this sector which is a vital component of the nascent recovery that the economy is experiencing. Beyond Currency Market Commentary: Aims to provide deep insights into the political and economic events worldwide that can cause currencies to change and how this can affect your FX Exposure.