UK Preliminary Manufacturing PMI drops to 60.4 in July, a big miss

UK Manufacturing PMI misses estimates with 60.4 in July.
Services PMI in the UK drops to 57.8 in July, a big miss.
GBP/USD remains in daily lows below 1.3750 on downbeat UK PMIs.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 60.4 in July versus 62.5 expected and 63.9 – June’s final reading.

Meanwhile, the Flash UK Services Business Activity Index for July fell to 57.8 versus June’s final readout of 62.4 and 62.0 expected. The index reaches four-month lows.

Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit, commented on the survey

"July saw the UK economy’s recent growth spurt stifled by the rising wave of virus infections, which subdued customer demand, disrupted supply chains and caused widespread staff shortages, and also cast a darkening shadow over the outlook.”

"Although business activity continued to grow, aided by the easing of lockdown restrictions to the lowest since the pandemic began, the rate of expansion slowed sharply to the weakest since March.”

FX implications

Disappointing UK Preliminary Manufacturing and Services PMIs had a little impact on the pound, as GBP/USD remained closed to daily lows of 1.3725.

The spot is currently trading at 1.3729, down 0.23% so far.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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