Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - June 2010

• The Agents’ sense was that, abstracting from the erratic factors that had distorted the pattern of sales earlier this year, retail sales values growth had been steady during the first half of 2010.
• Consumer services turnover had remained broadly flat in recent months.
• Investment intentions had picked up, but remained consistent with a gradual recovery from a low level, rather than a robust pickup in spending.
• Exports had continued to recover. There had been more widespread reports of businesses preparing to export to new markets, where growth had been more robust than in the United Kingdom’s traditional trading partners.
• Business services turnover had risen further, primarily reflecting recovering demand for professional services. Growth in volumes was likely to have been stronger than growth in turnover, given ongoing falls in services output prices.
• Manufacturing output volumes had also continued to rise, reflecting both stronger foreign and domestic demand.
• Construction output had begun to stabilise, but contacts expected cuts in public sector spending to prompt a renewed contraction over the next year.
• The availability of bank credit continued to improve slightly, although conditions remained tight for most businesses.
• Private sector contacts expected employment to remain stable over the next six months.
• Pay growth remained muted, although the slight upward creep noted over the past couple of months had continued.
• Materials costs remained elevated, reflecting both demand and supply-side factors.
• Consumer price inflation remained little changed, with contacts continuing to report little pricing power.

Agents' summary of business conditions - June 2010

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