UK GDP misses expectations for Q4

Announcing its preliminary estimate for Q4 2014 growth this morning, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said UK GDP growth stood at 0.5% for the period, below the 0.6% figure estimated by economists and the 0.7% growth reported in Q3. GDP was 2.7% higher in Q4 2014 compared with the same quarter a year ago, while GDP in 2014 as a whole was up 2.6% on 2013, compared with economists' forecast of 2.8%. The figure remains relatively healthy compared with the fortunes of many other developed economies. Construction, a notoriously volatile sector, saw output contract by 1.8% on the qu...