The market?s rebound from yesterday?s sell-off

The latest data from Markit on the state of the UK construction industry came in slightly below forecasts yesterday at 62.6 for February, down from the 77 month high registered in January although activity rose for the tenth month in a row and job creation is at a three-month high.

For once, this was no great surprise given the adverse weather conditions endured by most of the country in February.

Tim Moore, Senior Economist at Markit highlighted the strong job creation and upbeat outlooks as evidence of the rise in confidence in the sector as economic conditions continue to become more favourable and an ongoing house building recovery.

Internationally, the world stock markets staged something of a recovery yesterday following the very sharp sell-offs on Monday after Russian President Vladimir Putin soothed fears of a potential war and ordered some of his forces to return to their bases and added that he saw no reason to send troops further into the Ukraine.

In China, it’s annual parliamentary meeting saw the government announce that it would stick to its economic growth target 7.5% for 2014 as had been widely expected.

Attention now turns to the latest policy decisions from The Bank of Canada today and both the Bank of England and European Central Bank tomorrow and Friday’s key employment data out of the US.