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Data Friday showed the housing market had its worst 12 months since 2013 last year, consumers remained reticent about borrowing and a gauge of services, the largest part of the economy, stayed sluggish. The latter report, combined with measures of construction and manufacturing, indicates growth may have slowed to 0.1 percent in the final quarter of last year, according to IHS Markit.
“The economy effectively has ground to a halt, primarily due to mounting concerns about Brexit,” said Samuel Tombs, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “Recent indicators point to softness in retail spending. What’s more, the official data have begun to mirror the weakness of the PMIs.” He predicts growth slowed to just 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.
Fears the nation may crash out of the EU without a deal are increasing as Parliament prepares to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s widely opposed Brexit deal in less than two weeks. With Britain due to exit the EU on March 29, with or without an agreement, May is running out of time to resolve the divisions in her Conservative Party over Brexit. Markit said this week that manufacturers are aggressively stockpiling as they brace for a potentially disruptive departure. [...]