New car registrations fell 2.9% year-on-year in October, with just 153,599 vehicles registered last month. That follows a 20.5% plunge in September and is of some concern for obvious reasons. However, there is at least some reason for this as new emissions tests continue to cause bottlenecks at testing centres.
UK services PMI fell to 52.2 in October from 53.9 in September and below market expectations of 53.3. It is the slowest pace of expansion in factory activity since March, as economic uncertainty and falling consumer spending took hold. Still the release was not enough to affect sterling’s performance, as it continued its recent gains against the euro and dollar by climbing higher.
With no major economic data releases from the UK today, attention will likely be elsewhere, especially with the US midterm elections happening later tonight. Any Brexit-related news will likely generate some headlines too. Tomorrow we have the Halifax house price index for October which is expected to bounce back on monthly basis.
