director for economic policy at the Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR), said by email. “The real concern is the U.K.’s weaker-than-expected growth, now lagging behind the Bank’s own projections,” Dibb said. The U.K. economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% in October, in the second consecutive monthly downturn. The British pound continued to trade 0.06% lower against the U.S. dollar and 0.19% lower against the euro following the release of the print. If the BOE leaves monetary policy unchanged in December, it will finish out the year with just two cuts of its key rate, bringing it from 5.25% to 4.75%. The European Central Bank has meanwhile enacted four quarter-percentage-point cuts and this month signaled a firm intention to move lower next year. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to trim rates by a quarter point at its own meeting on Wednesday, taking total cuts of the year to a full percentage point. Some skepticism lingers over whether it should take this step, given inflationary pressures.