Originally Posted by
HeartyMeatballs
Inflation was near or below target until very recently.
Industrial production seems to be doing ok as do our services sector.
Always wait until all the revisions are out, the monthly numbers are notoriously unreliable. That being said, the UK economy has held up quite well over the last year. Though there are a lot of signs of stress that could bode poorly for the future. If you have $s to spend UK labour, property and commodities are about 15% cheaper than they were last year. Simplistically this reflects the markets view that all else remaining equal over the next 5 or so years the cost of doing business in the uk will rise about 18% over what it was before (hence the prediction that brexit will lead to a overall reduction in GDP in £s of ~5% over the prior trend). The nice thing is that none of those costs are yet realised, e.g. tariffs and non-tariff barriers. This means our exports are more attractive. Couple that with a Eurozone that is beginning to really grow again and we are in a good rising tide.
In the short term a lot of Manchester central property values is being driven by foreign money, which means that the reduction in the cost of labour makes the property that much more attractive. Also, even the more pessimistic forecasts for the next 20-30 years say that brexit will not have a significant effect on the long-term growth trend (conversely it won't improve the long term growth trend), so if you are investing in something over that time period and you think the currency markets have over reacted now would be a great time to get into the game.
Conversely, if you have £s and need to buy stuff in $s this hurts you a lot. For many airlines fuel prices are approaching 50% of operating costs. If the pound looses 15% of it's value and all of your revenue are in £s then you need to increase your incomings by 9% just to stand still. In the case of a BA or U2 much of their revenue is in $s and €s, which helps a lot. This is showing up in locally funded construction, where the real cost is rising quite rapidly, leading to current reductions in planned activity.