Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - November 2010

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 16 November 2010

Retail sales values growth continued to ease. Consumer services turnover growth had strengthened a little, largely reflecting higher price inflation.
Housing market activity continued to weaken.
Investment intentions were reported to have picked up further, but prospective growth in capital expenditure was comparatively modest.
Export growth remained robust.
Services turnover growth had eased a little.
Manufacturing output growth for the domestic market was little changed, and remained below that of exports.
Construction output was broadly flat compared with last year’s weak levels. There were tentative signs that homebuilding activity had softened.
Credit conditions had continued to improve for large firms. But banks remained risk-averse with regard to their exposure to other firms.
Private sector employment intentions were a little stronger, consistent with modest growth in the year ahead.
The amount of spare capacity reported by contacts was little changed. While utilisation was reported to be only slightly lower than normal, many firms had scope to raise capacity quite readily should demand recover.
Pay settlements continued to rise modestly.
Non-labour input costs inflation had increased.
Output price inflation was stable, with suppliers generally reporting limited pricing power.
Retail goods price inflation was little changed. Inflation had risen further for consumer services.