- Prior 44.3
It's just a slight downwards revision as UK manufacturing output, new orders and employment all showed declines in October. Meanwhile, business optimism fell further to a ten-month low. S&P Global notes that:
“The UK manufacturing downturn continued at the start of the final quarter of the year, meaning the factory sector remains a weight dragging on an economy already skirting with recession.
"Production volumes contracted for the eighth consecutive month, the longest sequence of continual decline since 2008-09, as weak demand at home and overseas led to a further retrenchment of new order intakes. Companies are finding trading conditions difficult as they face headwinds from client destocking, market uncertainty and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on consumer demand.
"Risks to the outlook remain skewed to the downside. Business optimism dipped to a ten-month low and manufacturers' increased belt-tightening drove cuts to employment, purchasing and inventories.
"Although both input prices and output charges fell in October, this brighter inflation outlook comes at the cost of increased recession risk, being a symptom of the broader weak demand malaise.”