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☆ Bank of England halts run of interest rate hikes as economy slows
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A general view of the Bank of England (BoE) building, the BoE confirmed to raise interest rates to 1.75%, in London, Britain, August 4, 2022. A day after a surprise slowing in Britain's fast pace of price growth, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted by a narrow margin of 5-4 to keep Bank Rate at 5.25%. "There are increasing signs of some impact of tighter monetary policy on the labour market and on momentum in the real economy more generally," the MPC said in a statement. The BoE's decision to pause its rate hikes came a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve also opted to keep borrowing costs on hold. Last week, the European Central Bank raised rates but suggested it might be the last for now.

Persons: BoE, Maja Smiejkowska, William Schomberg, Andy Bruce, Suban Abdulla, Jon Cunliffe, Megan Greene, Jonathan Haskel, Catherine Mann, Andrew Bailey, Bailey, BRITAIN BOE Organizations: Bank of England, REUTERS, MPC, U.S . Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Thomson Locations: London, Britain

"There has been significant upside news in recent data that indicates more persistence in the inflation process," the MPC said. BoE policymakers had given little indication that a half-point rate increase was under consideration in the run-up to Thursday's announcement. Expectations for BoE rate tightening have surged in recent days - sharply raising the cost of new mortgages - and before Thursday's decision financial markets expected the BoE's Bank Rate to peak at 6% by the end of the year. The central bank also noted that short-dated British government bond yields had risen sharply - pricing in an average level of Bank Rate of 5.5% for the next three years. Last month the central bank forecast that inflation would fall to just over 5% by the end of this year and be below its 2% target in early 2025.

Persons: BoE, Silvana Tenreyro, Swati Dhingra, Andrew Bailey, Jeremy Hunt, Joachim Nagel, Jerome Powell, David Milliken, Suban Abdulla, BRITAIN BOE Organizations: Bank of England, MPC, Reuters, Central, U.S . Federal, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Swedish, Norwegian, Britain

☆ Bank of England tells regulators to move fast on LDI reform after mini-budget crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - The Bank of England on Wednesday told regulators to move fast to toughen rules for funds used by Britain's pension industry which nearly collapsed last year after former Prime Minister Liz's Truss's "mini-budget." But the BoE's Financial Policy Committee called on pension regulators to act "as soon as possible" to mitigate the risks posed by liability-driven investment (LDI) funds. The FPC also said there is a need to toughen resilience of money market funds, used by companies for day-to-day financing, and UK regulators will publish a consultation paper on MMF regulation later this year. The FPC stressed that "all UK banks" have been assessed on their resilience to moves in interest rate rises, including the impact on their holdings of net open bond positions. (Reporting by Huw Jones and William Schomberg)((uk.economics@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5109))Keywords: BRITAIN BOE/Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bank of England raises interest rates again, sees inflation falling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Sounding more upbeat about the outlook for the country's slow pace of economic growth, the BoE's nine rate-setters voted 7-2 in favour of a 25 basis-point increase in Bank Rate to 4.25%. "The MPC will continue to monitor closely any effect on the credit conditions faced by households and businesses, and hence the impact on the macroeconomic and inflation outlook," it said. On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its main interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, and indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases. However, it said it expected wages to rise slightly less than it had previously forecast, as inflation expectations fell. The BoE was the first major central bank to start raising rates in December 2021 and until this week had seemed likely to join the Bank of Canada which this month stopped raising borrowing costs.

Softening their forecasts of recession this year, the BoE's nine interest rate-setters voted 7-2 to increase Bank Rate to 4.0% - its highest since 2008 - from 3.5%. The European Central Bank looks set to raise rates by a half a percentage point later on Thursday to 2.5%. Previously the BoE had forecast 2023 inflation at around 5%. Previously the BoE has said that "it will respond forcefully, as necessary" to signs of further inflation pressure, and "further increases in Bank Rate may be required". As a result, the BoE saw Britain's economy still below its pre-pandemic size until after 2025, representing seven lost years for growth.

☆ Bank of England raises rates to 3.5%, expects more rises to come
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Bank of England raised its key interest rate to 3.5% from 3% on Thursday, its ninth rate rise in a row as it tries to speed inflation's return to target after price growth hit a 41-year high in October. The BoE statement did not repeat unusual language from November when it said rates were unlikely to need to rise as far as markets expected. The European Central Bank is set to raise interest rates for the fourth time in a row on Thursday, although by less than at its last two meetings. Official figures on Wednesday showed consumer price inflation fell to 10.7% in November from 11.1% in October. That 0.4 percentage point fall in the annual rate was the largest since July 2021.

☆ Bank of England makes historic rate hike despite 'very challenging' outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

By David Milliken and Andy BruceLONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The Bank of England raised interest rates to 3% on Thursday from 2.25%, its biggest rate rise since 1989 as it warned of a "very challenging" outlook for the economy. "Further increases in Bank Rate may be required for a sustainable return of inflation to target, albeit to a peak lower than priced into financial markets," the BoE said in unusually specific guidance to investors. Just before Thursday's policy decision, markets expected rates to peak at around 4.75%. "The Committee continues to judge that, if the outlook suggests more persistent inflationary pressures, it will respond forcefully, as necessary," the MPC added. (Reporting by David Milliken and Andy Bruce)((uk.economics@reuters.com; +44 20 7513 4034))Keywords: BRITAIN BOE/DECISIONOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bank of England raises rates to 2.25%, despite likely recession
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A general view of the Bank of England (BoE) building, the BoE confirmed to raise interest rates to 1.75%, in London, Britain, August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Maja SmiejkowskaLONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The Bank of England raised its key interest rate to 2.25% from 1.75% on Thursday and said it would continue to "respond forcefully, as necessary" to inflation, despite the economy entering recession. However, it noted that the energy price cap, while reducing inflation in the short term, would boost pressures further out. Before the rate decision, financial markets expected the BoE to raise rates to 3.75% by the end of the year, with a peak of 5% reached in mid-2023. Less than a year ago, BoE rates were at a record-low 0.1%.

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