While economists (including me!) make a living reading the tea leaves in the steady drip of economic data, most of the information is a snapshot of months or years gone by.
The best way to get a sense of what’s happening now, is to talk to business themselves.
The Bank of England does just that, supplementing its forecasting capabilities with Agents in each region whose job it is to talk to businesses in their patch.
The monthly summary can be an a great insight in to how business view their world.
What does this months’ report say? Generally, its good news across the board, in particular for manufacturing.
Exports and domestic demand are up (though retail is a bit soft), and investment intentions are rising (even if companies remain cautious about actually deploying their cash).
The one blemish in the report is that while credit conditions are improving for companies, conditions remained tight for small companies.
