Bank of England policy makers will decide on Thursday whether to call a halt to a string of 14 consecutive interest-rate increases, with investors and handful of economists raising doubts about another hike.
Investors have still fully priced in one more quarter-point increase this year in the UK central bank’s base rate, which is now 5.25%. But a drop in inflation to an 18-month low announced Wednesday raised questions over whether the BOE will deliver that hike today.
Either way, debate in the UK is shifting away from inflation fear to and toward how much the quickest increase in borrowing costs in three decades is damaging the economy. With the outlook dimming rapidly since the start of the second half of the year, investors are looking both at the rate decision and forward guidance from the BOE.
“It is too early for the Bank of England to be sufficiently confident that the current level of interest rates – even if held for a longer time – will be enough to return inflation to target,” said Kim Crawford, global rates portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management.“The shock decline in CPI inflation in August has thrown up a cloud of uncertainty around the Bank of England’s September decision.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
BOE Rate Hike Hangs in the Balance for Market After Inflation SlowsTraders slashed the odds of a Bank of England interest-rate increase drastically after data showed inflation unexpectedly slowed in the UK.
Read more »
Canadian inflation jumps; October rate hike bets riseBy David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's annual inflation rate in August jumped to 4.0% from 3.3% in July on higher gasoline prices, ...
Read more »
Inflation will worry Bank of Canada, but economist says rate hike unlikelyCanada’s headline inflation rate has gone up for the second straight month, and one economist predicts that the higher-than-expected rise is likely to keep interests rates high until next spring, at the earliest.
Read more »
TSX set for worst day in over a month after CPI data fuels rate-hike worriesKitco News collects and features the top financial, economic and geopolitical news from around the world. Kitco's aggregated sources include some of the top newswires in the world including the Association Press, Canadian Press, Japanese Economic Newswire, and United Press International.
Read more »
'Another rate hike is now in the picture': Reaction to August CPICanada’s headline inflation rate has gone up for the second straight month, and some experts are warning that the trend could mean another Bank of Canada interest rate hike is in store for October.
Read more »
Canadian inflation jumps; October rate hike bets riseMarket News
Read more »