by Calculated Risk on 5/08/2005 11:49:00 PM

My most recent post is up at Angry Bear: When will Housing Slowdown?

There is more bad news from the UK and I think the UK might be leading the US by 6 to 8 months with a housing slowdown.

UPDATE: U.K. Manufacturing Output Slumps

U.K. manufacturing had its biggest drop in almost three years in March, pushing industry closer to recession and damping expectations of higher interest rates after the Bank of England left its benchmark rate unchanged today.

Factory production, which accounts for 16 percent of the economy, dropped 1.6 percent from February, the National Statistics office said in London today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 26 economists was for a 0.1 percent increase.

The decline in manufacturing comes on top of signs of a slowdown in consumer spending in the U.K.'s 1.1 trillion-pound ($2.1 trillion) economy.

Best to all.