In a substantial turn-around from last month, economic analysts now predict the Bank of England will hold the interest rate at 4.5% this Thursday.

A majority of those polled by Reuters last week still expect the Monetary Policy Committee to make a cut early in the new year but a growing number says the next rate move will be a rise.

And releasing it’s monthly GDP estimates this morning, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research Institute is also of the view that an interest rate cut is inappropriate and says that in the medium run, interest rates are more likely to rise than fall.

October’s ‘consumer barometer’ from Lloyds TSB Financial Markets released yesterday also shows that an increasing number of consumers expect interest rates to rise over the next 12 months, with 59% believing rates will increase and just 14% still believing there’ll be a cut.

This compares to 51% and 21%, respectively, for August - the survey’s lowest point - which equates to a rise from +30 to +45 in the balance of people expecting the worst.

Job security fears have also battered the confidence of UK workers, according to the consumer barometer. The balance of consumers feeling optimistic about their own job security and employment prospects for the UK as a whole is the lowest since the survey began 12 months ago. Just 14 per cent of workers think that the UK’s employment picture looks rosier today than this time last year.

Trevor Williams, chief economist at Lloyds TSB Financial Markets, said: "The number of people claiming unemployment benefit has risen for eight consecutive months which is indicative of worsening labour market conditions."

"Depressed news about retail trading conditions, worries about price inflation and an increasing view that there won’t be any further interest rate cuts has exacerbated the air of pessimism among the public."