Talking Points
- As expected, the Bank of England left UK interest rates and its asset purchase program unchanged.
- However, in a major surprise, one member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy committee voted for an increase.
- See the DailyFX Economic Calendar and see what live coverage for key event risk impacting FX markets is scheduled for the week on the DailyFX Webinar Calendar.
In this DailyFX Webinar, Analyst and Editor Martin Essex talks about Thursday’s Bank of England interest rate decision before and after the event.
The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee was widely expected to leave both Bank Rate and its asset-purchase program unchanged, which it did.
However, surprisingly, one MPC member, the American economist Kristin Forbes, voted for an increase.
That lifted the British Pound against the US Dollar, the Euro and the Japanese Yen.
Inflation in the UK is expected to rise above the Bank’s target. However, the approach of the decision to trigger Article 50 to begin the Brexit process was expected to stay the Bank’s hand and persuade it to tolerate higher inflation for a while.
For eight of the nine MPC members, that argument clearly won the day – but not for Professor Forbes.
Meanwhile, the strength of sterling after her vote for a 25bps rate rise knocked back London share prices, which had hit a record high earlier in the day as measured by the FTSE 100 index.
Here is DailyFX Analyst Nick Cawley’s take on the Bank’s decision.
--- Written by Martin Essex, Analyst and Editor
To contact Martin, email him at martin.essex@ig.com
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