Cross your fingers. The CBI's industrial trends survey could have been shockingly worse.
This one was never going to be cheery. The official numbers have manufacturing in a recession - output has fallen for two quarters.
So it is no surprise to find confidence draining away. Quite unexpectedly, though, export orders, which looked dreadful in the April survey, have taken a marked turn for the better, offsetting some of the gloom at home.
Output is pretty well steady, too, after an ominous dip in April and costs are rising less sharply. The case for an interest rate cut next month remains overwhelming. But life may have stopped getting harder.
