NO TIME TO DELAY? (You can now subscribe to our(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channelThe Bank of England looks in a position to cut interest rates on Thursday after holding them at a 16-year high of 5.25% for the past year, though markets and economists are far from certain the British central bank will take the plunge.Economists polled by Reuters last week overwhelmingly expected a quarter-point cut but think the vote will be close on the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee , with only a 5-4 majority in favour.Late on Wednesday, financial markets were pricing in a 66% chance of a quarter-point cut, and then expected one more quarter-point cut before the end of the year. "It's certainly going to be a finely balanced decision. You can see that from the market pricing," said Jack Meaning, chief UK economist at Barclays.In June, the MPC voted 7-2 to keep rates on hold, but minutes of the meeting recorded that several of those who voted to hold had been close to voting for a cut.How those policymakers' views have shifted since then is hard to tell. At 5.7% in June, it has fallen much less than the BoE forecast three months ago.The question for policymakers is whether that represents greater medium-term pressures, or is due to one-off effects such as a surge in hotel prices during concert tours by artists such as U.S. singer Taylor Swift.Meaning, a former BoE economist, said policymakers would be wrong to delay a rate cut until September.

Source: The Times August 01, 2024 07:46 UTC