British manufacturing is looking absolutely dreadful right now

British manufacturing is looking pretty dreadful right now.

According to the Office for National Statistics, manufacturing production slipped by 0.4% in October, leaving it down 0.1% year-on-year.

Industrial production (the broader group that manufacturing makes up a part of) did better, rising 0.1% from September - that's up by 1.7% year-on-year.

Analysts were expecting a manufacturing to be flat month-on-month, and up 0.1% year-on-year. Industrial production was expected to be flat from September too, but up 1.3% year-on-year.

Manufacturers' group EEF released a dreary prediction on Monday, forecasting a recession for British manufacturing this year (with a 0.1% decline in output), followed by a forecast of meagre growth next year (at just 0.8%).