At 57.5 in June, up from 57.0 in May, the headline seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS Purchasing Manager’s Index® (PMI®) posted its second-highest reading in 40 months, bettered only during this period by last November’s 57.8. The PMI has now signalled expansion throughout the past 16 months. Furthermore, the average index reading during the second quarter is the highest since Q1 2011. Manufacturing output increased for the sixteenth successive month in June. Although the rate of growth eased to a three-month low, it stayed elevated and sufficient to ensure the average pace over the second quarter as a whole was the ... (full story)