Real-time data shows the economy is bouncing back already – but how long will it last?

The rest of the summer and the autumn may well be a two-steps-forward, one-step-back affair, writes Hamish McRae

Chancellor Rishi Sunak serves food to customers in Wagamama, after announcing meal discounts for restaurant patrons in a bid to help the industry recover from the coronavirus crisis (Rishi Sunak)

Are you dining out this week, using the chancellor’s £10 voucher to do so? Or maybe you’ve realised you will need a new car come the autumn and have looked up prices online? Perhaps you’re wondering whether this is the moment to move from the flat for somewhere with a garden, checking your options on Zoopla?

If you are doing any of these, you are, of course, part of the back-to-normal trend across the UK economy. But you are also doing something else. You are giving real-time information about what is happening to the economy, and the big message from that is that in the UK, activity is coming up steadily – so far.

The “so far” qualification is important because until the end of June, much the same was happening in the US, but July was flat. The first few days of August look a little better – but keep your fingers crossed.