Activity in the UK construction sector exceeded expectations

The S&G Global index for the construction sector, which measures monthly changes in activity across the entire industry, rose from 48.4 points in January to 54.6 points in February, writes the Financial Times.

The readings came in better than the 49.1 forecasts in a Reuters poll and above 50, the cutoff between growth and contraction.

Client confidence in the commercial segment rose as major infrastructure projects such as the HS2 high-speed rail network increased civil engineering activity in February.

Business expectations for the coming year have improved compared to forecasts published in December.

JPMorgan does not expect a recession in the UK

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the first “prognosticator” from the London financial center who think that the UK will stay out of recession during 2023 after a series of growth signals in recent weeks.

The US investment bank has stated that substantial changes to their UK economic growth prediction were due to an upswing in consumer faith and an unexpected resumption of growth in the most recent PMI. Although the National Institute for Economic and Social Research does not anticipate a recession, JPMorgan is the sole bank in the Bloomberg inquiry with these predictions.

It is predicted that in 2023, the UK economy will underperform compared to the US and the Eurozone. Nonetheless, forecasters seem to be becoming more optimistic as the political turbulence decreases and the decreasing cost of natural gas alleviates the burden on families and businesses.

JPMorgan has revised its previous forecast of a technical recession in the first half of 2023, now predicting GDP growth of 0.5 percent in Q1 and 0.6 percent in Q2.