UK business confidence to remain firm in manufacturing sector and investment plans should bounce

This month's CBI survey is the fuller once-a-quarter edition that includes extra questions on business confidence and the outlook for investment and employment, amongst other things.

In the previous edition, business confidence remained firm but investment intentions fell sharply. There was no obvious reason for the weakness in the latter. If it were mounting uncertainty about the impending election then investment intentions are expected to have remained weak and possibly fallen even further in this survey, given that the election is now less than two weeks away. 

However, Societe Generale says the fall was too early be caused by political jitters so a small bounce is expected. Looking at the quarterly average of the monthly output expectations readings from the same survey, business confidence should have held up well and even increased.