UK PMI construction rose to 53.4 in November, up from 53.2 and beat expectation of 52.5. That’s also the highest level in four months. Markit noted there is solid expansion of overall construction output. Residential work reclaims its place as best performing area of construction activity. Job creation accelerates to its fastest since December 2015.
Tim Moore, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey:
“November data indicates that the UK construction sector remains in expansion mode, with resilient business activity trends seen for housing, commercial and civil engineering activity. The latest overall rise in construction output was the fastest since July, helped by a stronger contribution to growth from house building activity.
“Higher levels of new work were recorded for the sixth month running in November, which resulted in a robust and accelerated rise in staffing numbers. The latest upturn in employment was the fastest for almost three years. A number of construction firms noted that greater demand for staff had led to upward pressure on salaries in November.
“Business confidence regarding the year ahead outlook for construction work picked up from October’s recent low, but remained weaker than seen on average in the first half of 2018. Survey respondents widely commented that Brexit-related uncertainty had held back business optimism in November.”
Also released in European session, Swiss CPI dropped -0.3% mom, rose 0.9% yoy in November, versus expectation of -0.1% mom, 1.1% yoy. Eurozone PPI rose 0.8% mom, 4.9% yoy in October, above expectation of 0.5% mom, 4.5% yoy.
