"This release is not strong enough to take the prospect of more QE on Thursday off the table, but it certainly muddies the waters somewhat"
- David Tinsley, an economist at BNP Paribas SA and a former BOE official
The growth of the U.K. service sector unexpectedly revved up last month, suggesting the economy may narrowly avoid a triple-dip recession, a survey by Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply showed on Tuesday. A measure of activity in service sector jumped to 51.8 from 51.5 in January, beating analysts' expectations, which called for a 51.0 figure. The sector is expanding for the second consecutive month, reviving from a slump in December, when the reading showed a contraction in the area. Latest data are showing there is a chance that the improvement in the services sector in February should offset weaker performances by the manufacturing and construction industries in the same period, suggesting the U.K. economy may grow by 0.3% in the last three months of 2012.
"This release is not strong enough to take the prospect of more QE on Thursday off the table, but it certainly muddies the waters somewhat," said David Tinsley, an economist at BNP Paribas SA in London and a former BOE official. "Overall, there remain arguments for doing more."
"This modest underlying improvement suggests we might be heading in the right direction at last," CIPS Chief Executive Officer David Noble said in the statement.
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