That is what they got today however, as the Office for National Statistics revealed Britain’s GDP growth had cooled to just 0.5% in the third quarter, missing analyst expectations.
The news went down like a lead balloon, sending the FTSE 100 down around 30 points to 6374, before a modest bounce.
Whether the soft number is an indication of a significant slowdown in the UK economy or just the latest soon-forgotten bump in the road that makes a few headlines, is not cut and dry.
Adrian Lowcock, head of investing at AXA Wealth paints a relatively bearish picture. “UK Economic growth has come in below expectations for the third quarter of 2015, as construction and manufacturing continue to disappoint,” he said. “The UK economy faces a number of headwinds with global growth outlook having deteriorated over the summer, a changing focus in China putting commodities under pressure and deflation reappearing in September as oil prices fell back.
There is of course an elephant in the room whenever you consider the medium term prospects for the UK economy. “The EU referendum is likely to continue to weigh on the UK market and economy as international investors wait to hear the outcome, Lowcock said. “However, we expect economic growth to remain positive albeit it at low levels, as consumer spending and wage growth is improving.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch had a slightly more optimistic appraisal, summarising the situation as ‘softer but still solid growth.’ “Softer UK growth in the third quarter does not portend a prolonged slowdown in the UK, in our view,” the research team said. ”A downturn in the world industrial cycle has put manufacturing in the ‘hurt locker’ but the more domestically oriented services sector continued to barrel along, its 0.7% quarterly rise the strongest in three quarters, helped by rising employment and consumer spending power.”
