City warns third-quarter growth could drop 0.2% - papers 7th Oct

As the Bank held interest rates for a second month in the face of business demands for a cut, bleak official figures showed industry’s output tumbled 0.9% in August, confounding hopes of a gain, reports The Times. Severe production shutdowns in the North Sea fuelled the sharp drop in output. But with manufacturing also breaking a four-month winning streak of rising output to suffer a 0.2% decline in August, the figures emphasised the worsening economic outlook. City economists said even if industry had rebounded last month and fully reversed the August decline, its dire third quarter w...