UK services sector surges but Ukraine clouds outlook – business live

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A gondola sails on the Grand Canal in Venice. Italy’s service sector unexpectedly contracted in August.Photograph: Marco Secchi/Getty Images

1.00pm BST

It’s been a busy morning. Let’s have a look at today’s main developments.

There has been mostly good news about the UK economy. The services sector is booming, according to the latest PMI survey, and survey compiler Markit



reckons its findings together with those for the manufacturing and construction industries point to 0.8% economic growth in the third quarter. The FTSE 100 index jumped to a 14-year high after the survey was released.

The Office for National Statistics has restated the national accounts, with the conclusion that the UK recession was “less deep” than previously thought – although it remains the worst since records began in 1948.

Meanwhile, the OECD found in its employment monitor that UK workers suffered the biggest cuts in real wages in the developed world after the financial crisis. The Paris-based think tank also says the jobs recovery in the world’s major economies has “only just begun”.

In the eurozone, pressure has increased on the European Central Bank to take more drastic action and embark on full-scale quantitative easing, after output growth slowed markedly across the bloc last month and retail sales fell in July.

Europe’s biggest fashion retailer Zalando, Asos’ main rival, plans a €6bn IPO in Frankfurt.