+0.26
United Kingdom weekly economic activity
Pulse and GDP
The daily United Kingdom GDP nowcast for Q3 2026 stands at +2.8% (annualised q/q). The Pulse is a weekly gauge of momentum, not a GDP estimate: it reacts within days to shifts in activity that official monthly and quarterly statistics confirm weeks later.
Latest weekly readings
| Week starting | Pulse | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 2026 | +0.26 | above-average |
| 12 Oct 2026 | +0.17 | about average |
| 5 Oct 2026 | +0.08 | about average |
| 28 Sep 2026 | +0.01 | about average |
| 21 Sep 2026 | −0.11 | about average |
| 14 Sep 2026 | −0.11 | about average |
| 7 Sep 2026 | −0.20 | about average |
| 31 Aug 2026 | −0.08 | about average |
| 24 Aug 2026 | −0.19 | about average |
| 17 Aug 2026 | −0.19 | about average |
| 10 Aug 2026 | −0.20 | about average |
| 3 Aug 2026 | −0.19 | about average |
| 27 Jul 2026 | −0.30 | below-average |
About the United Kingdom Weekly Economic Pulse
The Pulse combines weekly and daily public indicators of economic activity in the United Kingdom into one number. Each input is seasonally adjusted, turned into its growth over the last 13 weeks, and standardised; the Pulse is their common factor, scaled so that 0 is average growth and 1 is one standard deviation. It is published for several economies on the same scale, so readings can be compared across countries.
Sources: NESO electricity demand, Revolut card spending (ONS), BT retail footfall (ONS), UK flights (EUROCONTROL via ONS), Indeed job postings, ONS monthly GDP, FTSE 250, Bank of England 10-year gilt yield.
Full method, tests and limitations: Methodology · Weekly Economic Pulse.
Questions
What is the United Kingdom Weekly Economic Pulse?
A weekly index of economic activity in the United Kingdom, built by worldgdp.org from high-frequency public data (NESO electricity demand, Revolut card spending (ONS), BT retail footfall (ONS), UK flights (EUROCONTROL via ONS)…). It measures momentum: how fast activity has grown over the last 13 weeks compared with its long-run average. 0 = average growth, +1 = one standard deviation faster.
What does the latest reading say about the United Kingdom economy?
In the week of 19 Oct 2026 the Pulse was +0.26, above-average momentum, +0.37 over four weeks and +0.60 over thirteen. It is higher than 68% of weekly readings since 2007 (2020–2021 excluded).
Is the Pulse a GDP forecast?
No. It is a gauge of momentum from weekly data, not an estimate of GDP. For GDP itself, see the daily United Kingdom GDP nowcast on worldgdp.org, which can use the Pulse as one of its inputs when it improves accuracy.
How often is it updated, and is it revised?
Weekly, every Friday morning (UTC). Recent weeks are revised as late data arrive and as seasonal factors and weights are re-estimated, like other weekly activity indices.
Is it the same as the New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI) or the Bundesbank Weekly Activity Index (WAI)?
No. It belongs to the same family of methods (a common factor of weekly indicators) but is computed independently by worldgdp.org, with its own inputs, for several economies on one comparable scale.