UK inflation: Business groups IoD and BCC split over when BoE should raise rates August 18, 2015 Two of Britain's biggest business groups have clashed over when the Bank of England (BoE) should raise interest rates, after today's inflation data. Official data released this morning showed inflation unexpectedly rose 0.1 per cent in the year to July. But this remains well below the BoE's target for two per cent. At the same [...]
Bank of England analysts believe Twitter could help predict a bank run, early signs of unemployment data and market movements August 18, 2015 Bank of England analysts believe Twitter and other social media give “much potential for central banks” to predict market movements, indicate unemployment data ahead of time and even give signs of an impending bank run. In the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum a team of analysts and IT experts within the BoE built [...]
Bank of England policymaker Kristin Forbes warns against keeping interest rates low for too long August 17, 2015 Bank of England policymaker Kristin Forbes has warned keeping interest rates low for too long risks undermining Britain's economic recovery. Earlier this month, when the monetary policy broke unanimity and voted 8-1 to hold rates, Forbes chose to stick with the majority. The US economist and external member of the monetary policy committee (MPC) said there [...]
Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent says “no urgency” to raise rates; would be “foolish” to pre-announce interest rate hike date August 7, 2015 Bank of England (BoE) deputy governor Ben Broadbent has played down expectation that there could be a rate rise by the end of 2015. Mark Carney's second-in-command this morning said his boss's speech "did not say we can expect a rate rise around the turn of the year", adding it was "impossible" and "foolish" to pre-announce [...]
Super Thursday: Five key takes from the Bank of England’s inflation report August 6, 2015 The Bank of England's first data dump landed with a thud today after both the minutes from its monthly interest rate meeting and its inflation report struck an unexpectedly dovish tone. Analysts had been expecting at least two members of the nine-strong monetary policy committee to vote for an interest rate rise for the first [...]
Bank of England Super Thursday: Website struggles under pressure August 6, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney and co's unprecedented data dump has heaped pressure onto the bank's servers, meaning users struggled to access its website at the stroke of noon. Rather than having a fortnight to digest the various releases, central bank watchers rushed to read the interest rate decision, minutes of the interest rate [...]
Bank of England: Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Barratt Developments share prices rise after not-so-super Thursday August 6, 2015 Shares in housebuilders were boosted today after the Bank of England's historic "data dump" struck an unexpectedly dovish note. Taylor Wimpey shares rose 2.19 per cent to 200.5p per share, while Persimmon was 1.22 per cent higher at 2,079p per share and Barratt Developments was 1.4 per cent higher at 650p per share. Read more: Mortgage [...]
Super Thursday: Interest rate rise by the Bank of England could end the buy-to-let boom August 6, 2015 It looks like momentum to raise interest rates could be building over at the Bank of England (BoE), however a legal advice service has warned this could spell disaster for the UK's booming buy-to-let market. Minutes due to be released later today are expected to show between two to three members of the nine-strong rate-setting [...]
Bank of England Super Thursday: Which monetary policy committee member could vote for an interest rate rise? August 6, 2015 Economists, analysts and investors think the minutes of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting due out at midday could show the first minority dissent among the Bank's policymakers so far this year. But which members of the nine-strong MPC who could be itching to pull the trigger and hike rates? Martin Weale [...]
Super Thursday: Dissent in the ranks as Bank of England monetary policy committee votes 8-1 to hold interest rates August 6, 2015 UK policy makers took a step toward raising interest rates for the first time in eight years today as the Bank of England’s committee of rate-setters broke their unanimity on voting to keep borrowing costs at record lows. The pound fell 0.49 per cent against the dollar to 1.5526 on the news, sliding 0.24 [...]