Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - July 2005

We regularly publish a summary of reports compiled by our twelve regional Agents following discussions with at least 700 businesses across the UK every reporting period.

Published on 19 July 2005

Retail sales values have fallen slightly, and demand remained weaker for durable goods. Consumer services grew at a subdued pace.
The housing market remained muted, with both activity and prices broadly flat. Stocks on estate agents’ books rose.
Exports grew at a moderate pace, and at a slightly slower rate than last month. There were signs that imports had weakened in response to the consumer slowdown.
Investment intentions eased a little, but still pointed to firm growth.
Manufacturing output growth fell back as sales for domestic consumption eased further.
Construction output growth continued to be strong, although there were tentative signs of slower growth ahead.
Service sector output growth may have slowed. But growth in business services and finance remained much stronger than in consumer services.
Employment intentions and recruitment difficulties eased, although the demand for labour was still strong in the construction and professional service sectors. Staff turnover continued to be low.
Capacity utilisation edged slightly lower, but was still above normal. However, apart from those sectors facing labour constraints, there were few signs that capacity pressures were pushing up output prices.
Wage settlements remained flat, with the most commonly cited increase at 3%.
Some commodity prices flattened off, but the full impact of the past oil price rises had not yet been felt.
Consumer price inflation may have edged slightly lower.