Midday Markets: Is the UK economy ‘back’?

The Midday Market report is a new newsletter from City AM, giving you fresh analysis on the biggest stories in the City straight into your inbox every lunchtime. Today, Ali Lyon, assesses whether August s positive GDP figures are a sign of a revival in the UK economy. Sign up to the City AM News Updates newsletter here. For much of the past decade and a half, describing the UK economy has been a relatively easy task. ‘Languid’ has often worked. ‘Stuttering’ has been another favourite. And when things have looked especially sullen, ‘moribund’ or ‘anaemic’ have more than sufficient. But if today’s GDP figures are anything to go by, then cliche-dependent hacks like this one might find themselves having to reach for their thesauruses in search a new vernacular. Granted, a 0.1 per cent jump in economic activity in August is hardly cause to crack open the English sparkling wine. But it was, as almost every economist has been at pains to point out this morning, an expectation-defying