Taking Stock on Monday 2nd October 2023
Taking Stock: Is a look at today's top business news & investment views plus we cover the winners, losers, the most read company news & the most followed. Today this includes:
More bad news is good news - the medicine is working...
UK factory activity slows sharply in September
Actual 44.3
Forecast 44.2
Previous 43.0
British manufacturing activity slowed sharply in September, though less steeply than the month before when it shrank at the fastest rate in more than three years, a survey showed on Monday.
The S&P Global/CIPS manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) remained well below the 50 level dividing growth from contraction, edging up to 44.3 in September from August's reading of 43.0, which was the lowest since May 2020.
September's figure was a fraction higher than an initial "flash" estimate of 44.2.
S&P said 55% of manufacturers expected growth over the next 12 months, fewer than in August, while 9% expected a contraction.
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
UK house prices fall by 5.3% in 12 months to September
British house prices in September were 5.3% lower than a year earlier, matching their fall in August which was the biggest annual drop since 2009, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Monday.
In month-on-month terms, prices were unchanged in September after a 0.8% fall in August, Nationwide said.
Britain's housing market has slowed as borrowing costs mount, but the fall in house prices so far remains much less marked than their jump of about 25% between the start of the coronavirus pandemic and September last year.
Transaction volumes for flats were holding up better than other property types, possibly reflecting how prices for smaller homes did not rise as much during the pandemic, Nationwide said.
Water firms want bill rises to cut leaks and spills
Water companies want bills to increase by £156 a year by 2030 to pay for upgrades and reduce sewage discharges.
The increase would allow infrastructure spending to almost double to £96bn and fund the construction of 10 new reservoirs, the water industry says.
But the proposals come amid public anger at the amount of sewage being discharged into rivers and seas and continued cost of living pressures.
Water industry regulator Ofwat has been asked to approve the plans.