• UK Manufacturing PMI drops as expected to 57.6 in December.
• Services PMI in the UK misses estimates with 53.2 in Dec.
• GBP/USD holds gains near 1.3300 on mixed UK Preliminary PMIs.

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) worsened to 57.6 in December versus 57.6 expected and 58.1 – November’s final reading.

Meanwhile, the Preliminary UK Services Business Activity Index for December slumped, arriving at 53.2 versus November’s final readout 58.5 and 57.0 expected.

Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit, commented on the survey

“The flash PMI data show the UK economy being hit once again by COVID-19, with growth slowing sharply at the end of the year led by a steep drop in spending on services by households.”

“Some brighter news came through from manufacturing, where an easing of supply chain delays helped lift production growth, but more importantly also helped take some upward pressure off prices to hint at a peaking of inflation.”

FX implications

Mixed UK Preliminary Manufacturing and Services PMIs failed to deter GBP bulls, as the GBP/USD pair kept its range near 1.3300.

The spot is trading at 1.3295, adding 0.26% on a daily basis, at the press time.

GBP/USD technical levels