This week New Economy takes a look at what the week ahead has in store for business. New Economy is published by Marketing Manchester.
The Confederation of British Industry released the results from its quarterly Financial Services survey yesterday which show that optimism in the sector has reached its highest point in almost 17 years.
Financial firms’ optimism at new highs, says CBI as reported on the BBC
Optimism among UK banks and financial firms is at its highest for almost 17 years, a survey from the CBI business lobby group has suggested.
Its quarterly survey, carried out with PricewaterhouseCoopers, found 59% of firms said they felt more optimistic, against 6% who were less optimistic.
The balance, of 53%, is the highest since December 1996.
The survey also found 24% of firms in the sector had increased staff numbers, the biggest rise in six years.
The CBI/PwC survey of 99 companies covered the three months to the start of September
The study estimates that 10,000 jobs were added in the period studied, with another 2,000 expected to be created in the current quarter, taking total employment in the sector to 1.14 million.
The one negative point came from business volumes, which the survey indicated had fallen in the latest quarter. Some 22% of firms reported a rise in business volumes, but 32% said they had fallen.
The latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation & KPMG Report on Jobs is released by Markit tomorrow. Last month’s report found that permanent staff placements were continuing to grow, while short-term appointments grew at their fastest rate since July 1998.
On Wednesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases the Index of Production for August, which measures the volume of production at base year prices for the manufacturing, mining and quarrying and energy supply industries.
Ending the week, on Friday ONS releases data showing output in the construction industry. With the economy increasingly showing signs of recovery, analysts will be looking for more positive news from the output figures.