Sunny weather not enough to boost service sector as growth disappoints
UK services output has risen by just 0.2 per in July, from no change in the month before. Analysts had been expecting an increase of 0.5 per cent.
That's a 1.8 per cent increase on July 2012, and the Office for National Statistics says that that "three of the four components of the services industries increased in the most recent month compared with the same month a year ago."
The largest contributions came from business services & finance, which contributed 0.8 percentage points to total growth, and distribution, hotels & restaurants, which contributed 0.7 percentage points to total growth.
Evidence suggests that the warm weather may have had a positive impact on overall output in the services industries in July. In particular, Retail Sales, released on 15 August 2013, highlighted that the sunny weather boosted sales across a range of products including food, alcohol, clothing and outdoor items.