Last time around, construction PMI in the UK dropped to a six-month low of 52.1. The markets were expecting it to fall further in October to 52.0, but the reading actually came in at 53.2. Any reading that beats expectations is welcome, but the UK needed some positive news following extremely disappointing manufacturing data earlier in the week.
The pound lost some of its recent gains against the dollar, but that was to be expected given how positive the economic data from the US was. It weakened a little against the euro, but the moves were nothing to write home about.
Today we have new car sales from October, where it will be hoped there is a significant recovery from the 20.5% drop in the previous month. We will also see the Markit services PMI for last month, which is expected to nudge down a little to 53.3 from 53.9 the previous period.
