Bitcoin price today: gains to $120k, near record high on U.S. regulatory cheer
Investing.com -- The UK S&P Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a preliminary reading for the month, showed a slight increase to 51.0 in February from 50.8 in January. The figure is slightly lower than the initial estimate of 51.1 and just above the 50 mark, which delineates growth from contraction.
This means British services firms in February have been reducing staff at the quickest rate since 2020, before the implementation of tax increases and a rise in the minimum wage next month, according to an industry survey released on Wednesday.
However, the survey revealed a significant decline in the employment gauge, plummeting to 43.9 from 45.1. This is the lowest point it has reached since November 2020, and if we exclude the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the lowest since the 2007-08 global financial crisis.
The survey also indicated that input cost inflation, which has been rising since last July, slowed for the first time, with the subindex at 65.7.
However, this figure remains near January’s nine-month high of 66.4.