Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - December 2012

• There was a further gentle pickup in retail sales growth. Growth in consumer services slowed marginally, in part reflecting a slight fall back following the Olympics-related boost.
• Housing market activity was flat to slightly up on a year earlier.
• Investment intentions remained slightly positive within manufacturing and services.
• The slowdown in export growth had eased marginally, and sales remained slightly higher on a year earlier.
• Business services turnover growth remained modest, constrained by subdued demand and intense competition, which was restricting pricing power.
• Annual manufacturing output growth remained marginally negative. Production for export continued to outperform that for domestic markets, although weakening in the euro area was affecting volumes.
• Construction output continued to decline through 2012, and remained at low levels.
• The Funding for Lending Scheme appeared to be having a more immediate impact on the mortgage market than on business lending. Demand for bank borrowing among smaller firms remained weak.
• Employment intentions over the next six months remained broadly flat.
• Firms in manufacturing and services were operating at slightly below normal levels of capacity utilisation.
• Labour costs per employee continued to grow at a modest rate in both manufacturing and services.
• Non-labour cost inflation on average remained benign, but the picture was very mixed across different commodities and other inputs.
• Manufacturers’ output prices were increasing modestly. Pricing power was generally weaker in services.
• Consumer goods price inflation had picked up marginally. Consumer services price inflation had also increased a little.

Agents' summary of business conditions - December 2012

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