UK factories avoid European slowdown The overall level of new business rose marginally, which was attributed to the improving domestic market. However, manufacturers reported that export orders dropped for the 13th consecutive month. David Tinsley, UK economist at BNP Paribas, said: "The danger is that if new orders don't pick up then this expansion in output will run out of stream - firms reported substantial backlog depletion this month." At the same time, PMIs globally painted a mixed picture for manufacturing. The eurozone saw a reading of 47.9, up from 46.1, meaning that the sector continued to contract, although at a less painful rate than the previous month. Meanwhile PMIs for China indicated that factory output in the world's second biggest economy continued to grow, while in the US the sector grew at its fastest pace in nine months, boosting recovery hopes. Jobs figures for the US showed that employers hired 157,000 new workers in January - marginally below expectations. However, the unemployment rate edged up from 7.8pc to 7.9pc, despite the economy having created more jobs than initially expected over the past three months. Figures from the Labour Department showed that 127,000 more people were hired in November and December than first estimated.