Since May we have seen a succession of relatively weak output indicators. As I noted earlier, the second release of the GDP figures for the first quarter of 2011 confirmed the picture of a stagnant economy. Less importantly, from my perspective, there has been a range of relatively weak qualitative business surveys. I say less importantly because these measures typically are not individually very informative except during periods of sharply falling output. Recent hard data, however, include the figures of industrial production in April. The decline that these showed was less than might have been expected given that there was.
