With retailing and manufacturing both very weak, the fact that services are slowing is particularly worrying.

A combination of weak consumer spending and challenging world markets is weighing on UK manufacturing.

The slightly less negative recent news from the housing and retail sectors contrasts with increasing pressures on manufacturers from the high cost of fuel and materials.

Conditions for manufacturers are getting increasingly tough as costs continue their seemingly inexorable rise but weak demand keeps prices down, squeezing already thin profit margins even further.

The sustained high level of oil and sharply increased gas prices have driven up energy and raw material costs and manufacturers are continuing to respond by cutting employment to curb the wage bill and boosting investment in efficiency-improving measures.

Christmas, in retailing terms, is coming later and later each year as consumers play chicken with the high street and delay their spending in the expectation of late price cuts as the big day draws nearer.