Interest rates: Bank of England hawks to ‘look through’ Budget’s disinflation December 9, 2025 Bank of England policymakers struck a hawkish tone on the future path of interest rates despite acknowledging that the upcoming Budget would lower inflation. Appearing before MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, Bank staff analysis agreed with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that measures in Rachel Reeves’ November statement would strip 0.5 percentage points [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Fed interest rates, retail sales, GDP December 9, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog covering the FTSE 100 and other big market moves. Investors are bracing for a crunch decision at the Federal Reserve this Wednesday, with markets pricing in a 25 basis point cut to bring interest rates down to 3.5-3.75 per cent. Forecasters will be taking a [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Reeves to be grilled, interest rates nerves, Netflix swoop, Employment Rights Bill December 8, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog covering the FTSE 100 and other big market moves. Rachel Reeves is set to be grilled by MPs at the Treasury Select Committee later this week on the Budget while economists will begin looking ahead to the final interest rates decisions of the year to be made [...]
Bank of England decision to cut interest rates could be ‘closer call’ December 5, 2025 The Bank of England’s expected decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points could be a “closer call” than markets predict, analysts have said. Markets have all but priced in interest rates falling to 3.75 per cent at the Bank’s next decision in mid-December after a flurry of data points pointed to a continued [...]
‘Deceiving’ Budget: Reeves to delay debt ‘repair’ amid interest rate hold fears November 27, 2025 A left-leaning think tank has sounded the alarm on the the delay of the “repair job” for public finances after Rachel Reeves increased short-term borrowing levels to pay for higher welfare spending next year. The Resolution Foundation, which was previously headed by Treasury minister Torsten Bell, suggested Rachel Reeves’ Budget was “deceiving” by back-loading consolidation [...]
Budget ‘chaos’ may stall interest rate cuts November 26, 2025 The “chaos” around Budget measures may delay further interest rate cuts as the Bank of England figures through the effects of a flurry of tax rises, despite Rachel Reeves’ stated commitment to set the conditions for borrowing costs to be lowered. The Chancellor has said curbing the cost of living was a key “priority” at [...]
University tuition fee hike to prop up high inflation November 17, 2025 A rise in university tuition fees and volatile airfare prices are expected to prop up price growth as economists are pencilling in slightly lower inflation in October than in the previous month. Economists polled by Bloomberg said they expected consumer price index (CPI) inflation to reach 3.6 per cent in fresh data to be released [...]
Jobs market decline ‘fuels hopes’ for Bank of England interest rate cut November 11, 2025 The jump in the unemployment rate and softening private sector wage growth is driving up expectations of an interest rate cut at the Bank of England’s next meeting in mid-December. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate had jumped to 5 per cent, higher than economists had expected, while wage growth had [...]
Laddering savings: A smarter approach November 11, 2025 Savers face a consistent dilemma: whether to lock money in for longer to secure today’s rate or keep it flexible in case conditions change. A laddering strategy manages both. It’s a simple premise: instead of putting all your savings into one fixed term account, they are spread across products with different maturities. When one matures, [...]
Bank of England holds interest rates at four per cent amid Budget fears November 6, 2025 The Bank of England has held interest rates at four per cent amid caution around high inflation levels ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ crucial Budget in three weeks. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 5-4 to hold interest rates as Governor Andrew Bailey, who made the deciding call at the latest meeting, said he [...]