- The Agents reported some further moderation in retail sales values growth against a background of fragile consumer confidence, but stable consumer services turnover growth.
- Housing market activity had stayed weak after the summer. House prices were expected to stabilise or fall slightly.
- Investment intentions had picked up in manufacturing, and continued to point to modest growth in services.
- Robust growth continued in exports, particularly of goods, driven by global demand.
- Services turnover continued to grow modestly.
- Manufacturing output growth for the domestic market had strengthened, but continued to grow at a slower pace than for export.
- Construction output was reported to be roughly on a par with last year’s weak levels, but contacts feared a further decline in 2011.
- Credit conditions had continued to improve marginally for larger and less highly-leveraged contacts, but demand for credit remained weak.
- Private sector employment intentions had eased slightly after improving earlier in the year. Contacts remained very cautious about expanding the labour force.
- Spare capacity was reported to have fallen over recent months, particularly in manufacturing. Nonetheless, capacity utilisation remained slightly below normal.
- Pay settlements continued to rise modestly.
- Growth in non-labour input costs inflation had eased slightly.
- Output price inflation remained modestly positive year on year in manufacturing, but business services prices remained slightly below a year earlier.
- Retail goods price inflation had eased slightly, but inflation had picked up for consumer services.
- The 2011 VAT rise remained likely to be passed on in full in early January by a majority of contacts, although there were some reports of contacts planning either slightly pre-emptive or slightly delayed pass-through.
Agents' summary of business conditions - October 2010