Output rose by 0.5% in the month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, as car production rebounded after declining in June. Recent surveys of the manufacturing sector have suggested that it is seeing a pick-up in orders and output. However, separate figures from the ONS indicated that there was little change in the UK's trade deficit during July. The trade deficit in goods and services was barely changed at 2.872bn, while the deficit in goods widened slightly to 11.576bn, compared with June's downwardly revised figure of 11.527bn.
