In an interview with Newcastle Journal yesterday, BoE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said “I haven’t picked up a strong sense that the economy is contracting and people are seeing big drops in demand”.
Q2 will likely be weak due to unwinding of stocks. But he added “with Q1 and the second quarter of this year, you won’t get a very accurate read on the underlying nature of the economy”.
Additionally, there is a Brexit “decision point” coming up on October 31. And, “we don’t know whether we’ll leave, or stay, or whether there’ll be an extension”. He added “we could see that stockpiling cycle build up again”.
