All green shoots articles
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Comment
Could the torment almost be over?
After 17 months of unrelenting torment, it looks like the UK construction sector is finally a step closer to recovery as the July CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index highlighted the slowest pace of decline since March last year (see index).This progress is largely on the back of an improvement in the ...
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Comment
And the slump goes on …
The UK economy shrank by another 0.8% in the second quarter, according to preliminary figures. While the drop was markedly slower than the 2.4% decline in the first quarter of this year, it was still a much sharper contraction than many analysts had hoped for. It also marked the fifth ...
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Green shoots?
RICS commercial property survey shows that the pace of decline has slowed and demand is marginally increasing in the office market. Of those surveyed, just 13% said new sales and lettings had fallen, compared with 71% two quarters ago, but any fall at all is still bad news.The rise in ...
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Hopes of a recovery on shaky ground
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the latest CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) would provide a better read than June’s figures. After seeing the rate of contraction ease consecutively for four months, the PMI took a turn for the worse fuelling speculation of a ‘w-shaped’ recession.Coming in with a reading ...
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Little respite from the worse recession on record
Despite all the talk of “green shoots” over the last few months, it was apparent that this recession was going to be harsh from the offset and our forecasts for the industry over past year have suggested this. This week sees the release of our latest forecasts and it makes ...
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Is everyone being too positive?
Apparently, slowing negative is now the new positive. Contraction is passé. The only problem is, that the evidence doesn't appear to suggest that.Just two examples, of many recently, spring to mind.The latest Key Purchasing Managers Index for construction from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) rose from 30.9 ...