Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - January 2006

• Consumer spending growth picked up.
• Activity continued to improve in the housing market; prices were flat.
• Export growth rose.
• Investment intentions were unchanged.
• Domestic manufacturing sales stabilised.
• Construction output growth remained steady.
• Growth in professional and financial services remained strong; consumer services growth was more subdued.
• The state of the labour market was unchanged, as were capacity pressures.
• There was little sign of any upward pressure on pay.
• Overall, input price inflation fell.
• Consumer price inflation edged higher; discounting in the January ‘sales’ may be less marked than usual.

Agents' summary of business conditions - January 2006

• Agents' scores (xlsx)
• Definitions for the Agents’ scores
• Response to consultation on changes to Agents' scores