UK business malaise deepened before election
British one pound sterling coin
Britishbusinesses endured their worst downturn since mid-2016 in the run-up to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's landslide victory in a nationalelectionlast week, a survey showed on Monday.
The 'flash' early reading of the IHS Markit/CIPSUKPurchasing Managers' Indexes (PMI) for Britain showed on Monday that the decline in both the services and manufacturing sectors has accelerated unexpectedly in December.
The readings suggested the world's fifth-biggest economy is on course to contract in the fourth quarter, survey compiler IHS Markit said, although thePMIs have overstated weakness in previous quarters, partly because of higher government spendingbeforeBrexit.
This is also only the second month for which IHS Markit has released flashPMIs for Britain, and November's flash estimates were revised up significantly when final data came out.
Addressing a wilting economy is likely to be among the first items in Johnson's in-tray as he builds his new government, bolstered by a majority of 80 seats in parliament.
"Any positive aspects of the survey came largely from the sentiment indicators, with future expectations rising to the highest since June as firms hope that theelectionwill bring clarity on the outlook and remove some of the uncertainty that has been holding back demand," said IHS Markit chiefbusinesseconomist Chris Williamson.
The compositePMI, which combines the servicesbusinessactivity and services and manufacturing output readings, fell to 48.5 from 49.3, its lowest level since July 2016, just after the Brexit vote.
Readings below 50 denote contraction.
ThePMIfor the dominant services sector fell to 49.0 in December from 49.3 in November, its lowest level since July 2016. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to an improved reading of 49.5.
The manufacturingPMIdropped to 47.4 from 48.9 -- again weaker than forecast -- as a stockpiling drivebeforethe aborted October31 Brexit deadline evaporated. The survey's gauge of factory output fell to its lowest level since July 2012.
"Manufacturing production is falling at one of the steepest rates since the height of the global financial crisis in early 2009, but output of the vast service sector has now also fallen in each of the past two months, representing the first back-to-back declines since 2009," Williamson said.
The final versions of the manufacturing and servicesPMIs will be released on January2 and January6.
A separate gauge of British household finances from IHS Markit on Monday fell to a three-month low in December, as perceptions of job security declined.