Growth in Britain's service sector suffered its steepest slowdown in nearly four years in May, according to a survey that suggested the economy might not recover as quickly as hoped after stumbling in early 2015, according to Reuters. Sterling fell sharply after Wednesday's Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell back to 56.5 last month, still comfortably in growth territory but down from 59.5 in April and at its lowest level since December. The monthly drop was the biggest since August 2011 and the reading undercut the lowest forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, though the index did show signs that rock-bottom inflation could pick up. Along with a weak manufacturing figure and a bounce in construction, combined growth across the three sectors in May was the slowest since December and the second-weakest for two years, Markit said. Data from mortgage lender Nationwide earlier on Wednesday showed the annual rate of house price growth fell to its lowest in nearly two years. Economists said Britain's economy looked like it would pick up a bit of pace from unexpectedly weak expansion of 0.3 percent in the first three months of 2015, but that growth would probably be slower than in 2014.
