Stalling car sales should put the brakes on Bank's November rate rise plan | Nils Pratley

An interest hike looks increasingly risky amid fears over motoring loans and diesel power and uncertainty over a Brexit deal

The 9.3% fall in new car registrations in September - a figure even weaker than expected - is alarming. September is the second-biggest month in the car trade and it is now odds-on that registrations will fall in 2017 for the first time in six years.

One can argue all day about usefulness of car sales as a barometer of general economic confidence, but the figures usually crop up in the discussions of the Bank of England's rate-setting monetary policy committee. They matter.