Analysts at TD Securities note that the UK services PMI improved to 50.0 in October, beating consensus of 49.7.

• “The report though still had fairly soft details, and just about every paragraph mentioned Brexit uncertainty. New business orders are still contracting, and jobs are still being shed, with a combination of non-replacement of voluntary leavers and compulsory redundancies (previously just non-replacement of voluntary leavers).
• The 12-month outlook improved a bit, based entirely on the expectation that Brexit uncertainty would be resolved in early-2020. Overall, the PMIs are consistent with flat to slightly negative GDP for Q4.”