The British economy expanded at its slowest rate in nearly a year in January as hospitality, leisure, and travel businesses felt the impact of the Omicron variant.
- The flash PMI estimate of activity from IHS Markit stated a two-speed recovery with an easing of supply-chain bottlenecks for manufacturing offset by weakness in consumer-facing services companies.
- Service growth slowed down for a third month, amid reports from businesses of a slowed pace caused by pandemic disruptions and subdued demand.
- The IHS Markit/Cips measure of output dropped from 53.6 to 53.4 in January, its lowest point in 11 months.
- Chris Williamson, IHS Markit’s chief business economist stated a resilient rate of economic growth in the UK during January offset wide variations across different sectors.
- Williamson further stated consumer-facing businesses have been hit hard by Omicron and manufacturers have posted a further concerning trend of weakening of order book growth.
The four biggest economies, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, tightened restrictions in recent weeks.
FTSE 100 down -1.21%, GBP USD down -0.43%Source: IHS Markit
