PMI Index says manufacturing is in growth!

A very quick take on the UK’s Purchasing Managers’ Index for the manufacturing sector which was released this morning. The good news is that it’s good news, with the PMI unexpectedly up due to September manufacturing headlining at 51.1 points, compared to 49.4 in August (a Reuters poll had only forecast 48.6!).

All of this of course means that manufacturing has grown over the last month, which considering all that is going on around us is pretty remarkable!

However, export orders have slipped which was probably to be expected on the back of the Eurozone crisis and continuing problems with the American economy. Orders slid at their fastest rate since May 09 - dropping to 45 from 46.9 - due to lower demand in key markets.

Of course any good news nowadays is as usual followed by the doom-mongers who attempt to paint the blackest possible interpretation on even the most positive figures (and the media lap it up of course).

Here’s Rob Dobson an economist at Markit: “The modest return to growth of UK manufacturing to growth of UK manufacturing output in September is a positive, but it is hard to escape the fact that the sector's performance has weakened substantially since the opening quarter's growth surge.”

Thank you Rob you are beacon of positivity!