UK private sector grows at fastest rate on record: reaction PMI surveys are now well into territory where in the past the MPC would be hiking rates, although given the very weak recovery from recession over the past few years, they will be content to hold off until the economy is much closer to its potential level of output. Ross Walker, RBS It's very strong. Pretty close to series highs and I see that Markit are saying that the composite is at its highest level historically. I don't take it too literally. I don't think we are really expanding at that pace, but if all we are trying to achieve is getting UK growth at a 2 percent type rate, then these numbers are quite encouraging. It does suggest that we are reaching escape velocity. As always the key is going to be if this is a short term exaggeration, maybe because of a survivor bias because a large number of companies are reporting a modest improvement. If we see this settle down towards the autumn, where does this normalise to? But it's hard to dispute there is some recovery going on and that it's stronger than had been thought. Very strong numbers, consistent with growth - particularly strong in Q3. It looks like it's probably getting close to or around about the 1pc mark, I would expect. It looks like the composite number is the highest for at least 15 years - that's strong. It's another storming PMI. Coupled with the lead that we saw in the construction PMI and the pretty solid manufacturing PMI, all those indicators are suggesting the UK recovery is really gaining pace now. To us that points to the Bank of England focusing its debate on forward guidance against this backdrop of indicators which are getting towards rate hike territory. The Bank of England will need to manage expectations about any policy hikes coming quite out in the future rather than anything in the near term, hence the forward guidance we expect to see on Wednesday. These numbers tell us that growth is picking up strongly. With this backdrop some people might question why the Bank of England would bother with forward guidance, but I still think that some sort of state-contingent guidance will be announced this week. What's interesting is why the recovery should be accelerating now. Some people say it's because of the housing market picking up, but it could also be a delayed impact from earlier stimulus. Paul Smith, Markit Strong UK Services PMI data for July follows on from equally positive numbers from sister construction and manufacturing surveys, as the recovery becomes increasingly broad-based and gains further traction heading through the summer. Indeed, a composite reading of the respective output balances from all three PMI surveys reached a series record high during July, driven by the sharpest increase in new business since March 2004.