UK still growing – but more slowly
The UK economy grew by 0.7% in the three months to September, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is down on the 0.9% growth experienced in the second quarter of 2014 and means the annual rate has slowed from 3.2% to 3.0%.
Despite this slowdown, the UK still looks set to be the fastest growing advanced economy this year.
The figures showed that there are signs of some rebalancing, with construction and manufacturing growing along with the dominant services sector. But given the uncertain global economy, with the eurozone struggling and Chinese growth slowing, the fear is that this slowdown may become a trend. Certainly there will be some impact from the current stagnation or worse in France, Italy and Germany.
However, there is no indication that UK growth is over, just that it is slowing somewhat. Inflation is still low and so it is unlikely that interest rates will be raised any time soon. This will continue to be supportive to both stock and bond markets.