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Clouds gather above the manufacturing centre - CBI
Manufacturing activity dropped in the quarter to July, but firms expect a slight recovery in the next few months, according to the CBI’s latest quarterly Industrial Trends Survey. The survey of 291 manufacturing firms showed that optimism fell at the fastest pace since July 2016 – just after the referendum – and investment spending plans weakened again. New orders declined sharply in the quarter to July: both new domestic and new export orders fell at their fastest respective paces since the financial crisis. And overall order books were below “normal” to the greatest extent since 2010. Meanwhile, export ... (full story)