November 2018 UK Markit/CIPS services PMI delivers a shock

November 2018 UK Markit/CIPS services PMI 5 December 2018

Services PMI 50.4 vs 52.5 exp. Prior 52.2
Marginal expansion of overall business activity
Employment growth moderates to four-month low
Business optimism weakest since July 2016
Input costs eased to a 6 month low.

Shocking number considering the other sectors did better. There’s warnings in the report too that lower consumer and business spending held back growth. A lot of fears were naturally tied to Brexit.

Markit says that all the PMI’s together points to Q4 growth of 0.1%.

A sharp deterioration in service sector growth leaves the economy flatlining in November as Brexit concerns intensified. Measured across services, manufacturing and construction, the survey results suggest that the pace of economic growth has stalled. With the exception of July 2016, when business slumped in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum, November saw the worst performance since February 2013.

GBPUSD has largely ignored the number though.