Good morning.
A series of flash manufacturing surveys for August will offer an early indication today of how global growth is faring in the face of the delta variant, with analysts expecting some slippage, especially in Asia.
In the UK, the pingdemic has already caused a slowdown in services in July, due to staff shortages and various business disruptions.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “It’s quite likely that we’ve seen peak PMI for both France and Germany despite last month’s strong readings from both countries.” He added: “It’s also important to remember that while services [in the UK] have seen a decent rebound in the last few months, certain sectors are still struggling as a result of consumer behaviour which is much more cautious than it would have been pre-pandemic, which suggests we could see another softer reading of 59.1.”
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 looks set to recover some of last week’s lost ground and open 0.4pc higher, at 7,120.
