In November, the UK manufacturing PMI weakened slightly from an upwardly revised 47.8 to 47.6, while the consensus was looking for a an even weaker outcome of 47.0. The details show that manufacturing output fell in November at the sharpest pace in more than 2.5 years and new orders fell for a 5th straight month, but the pace of contraction eased from the previous month. Employment fell at the fastest rate since October 2009. A more positive note in the report is that average input costs declined for the first time since mid-2009. Selling prices rose, but at the slowest pace in 25 months. Especially worrying is the sharp downturn in number of employees (lowest levels since end 2009) as it is likely that they will continue to decline as orders are still declining.