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Economics The services sector shrank for the second month in a row in June, with its activity falling to the lowest levels since October 2001, the latest CIPS purchasing managers’ survey showed. Its headline index fell to 47.1, on a scale where any figure below 50 indicates contraction. The level of new business in the sector fell to its lowest levels for at least 12 years, since the survey began, but worries over inflationary pressures were fuelled as services companies’ set a record and their prices charged to customers remained just below record highs. Credit conditions The credit crunch is set to bite still harder, the Bank of England’s latest quarterly survey of credit conditions in the economy indicated. A net 47 per cent of lenders said that the availability of secured loans had fallen in the past three months, while a... [read full story]