British factories took a dive in April - the latest sign that the UK economy could be hitting a wall

British industry slowed down markedly in April, according to the latest business surveys just out.

Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector in April came in at just 51.9, a seven month low. Anything over 50 signals at least some growth.

That's much worse than what was expected - after a PMI reading of 54.4 for manufacturing last month, analysts were expecting an improvement to 54.6 this month.

Here's Markit's release:

The slowdown in the rate of increase of output occurred in tandem with weaker growth of incoming new business, in turn led by a decrease in the volume of new work received from abroad.

They're also indicating that the weaker euro, which is good news for manufacturers in the eurozone, is starting to hit UK industry:

Companies reported that the domestic market continued to exhibit a degree of strength, leading to growth of total new orders. However, the sterling/euro exchange rate was also hitting competitiveness in our largest trading partner (the eurozone).

This isn't the first negative sign for the British economy this week. UK GDP came in weaker than expected for Q1, at just 0.3%, a significan slowdown from the 0.7% and 0.6% growth recorded in the previous two quarters.

Though employment in the manufacturing sector still seems to be rising, the surveys suggest it's doing so at the slowest pace since 2013.