British business activity has contracted in November as a new wave of coronavirus restrictions hammered the huge services industry, but news of possible vaccines have boosted hopes for 2021, a survey showed on Monday. An early “flash” reading of the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a gauge of private sector growth, tumbled to a five-month low of 47.4 in November from 52.1 in October. It is the first time the index has gone below the 50.0 growth threshold level since June. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to an even bigger decline to 42.5. Britain’s economy is widely expected to contract in the fourth quarter – albeit by less than it did around the time of the first coronavirus lockdown – after Prime […]