But says that the balance of risks are to the downside

  • Worryingly, indicators of rising unemployment are already revealing themselves
  • There remains a great deal of uncertainty as to how many of the currently furloughed workers will be able to return to their jobs

On the bright side, Haskel says that activity appears to be coming back faster than what the BOE anticipated but I reckon it is a bit too early to draw conclusions from that. Overall labour market conditions will remain a key spot to watch in the months ahead.

As for the BOE policy stance, they've done what they need to do but in terms of forward guidance they could arguably do better. This talk of "will they or won't they" on negative rates isn't particularly helpful in all honesty.