Business services darken Brexit clouds over UK

Britain’s economy is likely to lose momentum in the second half of 2017, according to a closely watched survey that could disappoint some Bank of England officials who want to raise interest rates for the first time in a decade.

Sterling dipped after the Markit-CIPS survey showed growth across British services companies fell to a four-month low in June.

Although the survey suggested the UK economy recovered some speed in the second quarter and probably expanded at a quarterly pace of around 0.4%, double the pace of the weak first quarter, there were some ominous signals in the PMI’s forward-looking gauges.