The UK economy hit the brakes in October, with GDP slipping 0.1% over the three months - reversing the tiny 0.1% uptick from the previous quarter, according to ONS data.
Monthly GDP also dipped 0.1% in October, following a similar drop in September and flat growth in August. Services fell 0.3%, construction slid 0.6%, whilst production was the lone bright spot, up 1.1%.
Over the full three months, services went nowhere fast. Seven of fourteen subsectors declined, with professional and scientific services leading the retreat, alongside tech, communications and other service activities.
Production had a rough patch, down 0.5%, with manufacturing particularly bruised by that 17.7% collapse in motor vehicle output.
The culprit?
The Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack back in August, which shut down systems, halted production globally for weeks, and racked up a £485m quarterly loss. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) noted "the impact of the earlier cyber-attack continued to be felt."
Construction wasn't much cheerier either, down 0.3% over the quarter. Repair work fell whilst new projects barely scraped into positive territory.
The service sector was the main disappointment in October, with consumer-facing categories affected by pre-Budget uncertainty, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics chief UK economist Rob Wood.
Wood said GDP was dragged into a surprising fall by the service sector, but some of the drop “looks like noise or a reaction to chaos running up to the Budget and so will likely reverse”. He also noted that car output has further to rebound following the cyber-attack-driven decline.
The weaker-than-expected GDP growth pulls Pantheon’s call for fourth-quarter GDP down to 0.1% quarter-to-quarter and increases the likelihood of a rate cut by the MPC next week, he added.