Investment Week (September 12)
“Annual growth in employees’ average total pay, including bonuses, was 8.5%; which was boosted by the NHS and Civil Service one-off payments made in June and July. Due to the strong momentum in wage growth, the Bank of England is expected to push ahead with a 25 basis point interest rate rise at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting later this month.”
Tags: Annual growth, BOE, Bonuses, Civil Service, Employees, Interest rate, Momentum, MPC, NHS, Rise, Strong, Total pay, Wage growth
BBC (June 13)
“UK wages have risen at their fastest rate in 20 years, excluding the pandemic, raising expectations that UK interest rates will have to rise. Regular pay excluding bonuses increased by 7.2% in the three months to April, although it still lags behind inflation.” The Bank of England has raised “interest rates 12 times since 2021 to try to slow price rises” and warned that surging pay is contributing to inflation.
Tags: 7.2%, BOE, Bonuses, Expectations, Inflation, Interest rates, Pandemic, Pay, Price, Surging pay, UK, Wages
Investment Week (May 10)
“The Bank of England is widely expected to make a 25 basis points hike tomorrow (11 May) as inflation remains stickily in the double digits, despite record rises in interest rates over the past two years. The move would come in the wake of similar decisions from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank last week.” Looking ahead, a rate cut seems more likely from the Fed, with analysts “split on the path forward for the BoE following the presumed 25bps hike, with much depending on economic data released over the next few months.”
Tags: 25 basis points, Analysts, BOE, ECB, Economic data, Fed, Hike, Inflation, Interest rates, Rate cut, Split
Investment Week (March 23)
“The UK’s higher than expected inflation results forced the Bank of England to prioritise bringing it down, rather than focusing on the fractures of the banking sector.” In February, “UK inflation hit 10.4%…an unexpected increase that followed three months of consecutive declines.”
Tags: 10.4%, Banking sector, BOE, Declines, February, Fractures, Increase, Inflation, Prioritize, UK, Unexpected
Pensions & Investments (February 2)
“Money managers in Europe still expect the U.K. economy to contract, despite the Bank of England’s latest 50-basis-point rate hike and a more subdued inflation forecast.”
Tags: 50-basis-point, BOE, Contract, Economy, Europe, Forecast, Inflation, Money managers, Rate hike, Subdued, U.K.
BBC (November 3)
“The Bank of England has warned the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, as it raised interest rates by the most in 33 years,” indicating that “the UK would face a ‘very challenging’ two-year slump with unemployment nearly doubling by 2025.” The BoE’s forecast paints “a picture of a painful economic period, with the UK performing worse than the US and the Eurozone.”
Tags: 2025, BOE, Challenging, Doubling, Forecast, Interest rates, Longest, Painful, Recession, Records, Slump, U.S., UK, Unemployment, Warned, Worse
Investment Week (August 23)
In early August, the Bank of England predicted “increased gas prices would cause inflation to rise above 13% by the end of the year.” The consensus is worse. “Goldman Sachs and EY forecast UK consumer price inflation would reach 15%, and Bank of America projected it would peak at 14% in January.” Citi bank has gone further and “riled markets” by forecasting “UK CPI to hit 18.6% in January… beating the 1979 peak when CPI hit 17.8% following the OPEC oil shock.” A recession looks all but inevitable.
Tags: Bank of America, BOE, Citi bank, Consensus, CPI, EY, Forecast, Gas prices, Goldman Sachs, Inflation, Markets, Oil shock, OPEC, Peak, Recession, UK
Investment Week (June 16)
“The industry has labelled the Bank of England a ‘timid cat’ following its interest rate rise of 0.25% in its bid to tackle inflation on Thursday (16 May), with many stating it was simply prolonging the time till they take the necessary action.” Following the 25-basis-point hike, UK interest rates stand at 1.25%, with the BoE expecting inflation “to peak at 11% in October.”
Tags: 0.25%, 1.25%, Action, BOE, Inflation, Interest rate, Necessary, October, Peak, Prolonging, Rise, Timid cat, UK
Reuters (April 20)
“A month after the London Metal Exchange (LME) suspended nickel transactions and cancelled trades amid an epic short squeeze, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the LME itself have launched reviews into what went wrong. They will need to substantially strengthen the world’s premier metal trading venue if it is to survive likely future turbulence.”
Tags: BOE, Cancelled, Financial Conduct Authority, LME, Metal, Nickel, Reviews, Short squeeze, Suspended, Trades, Transactions, Turbulence
Reuters (February 15)
“Brexit-supporting City figures hoping for a regulatory bonfire seem likely to be disappointed…. The BoE’s first deviation from EU law was to make the rules tighter, not looser. The supervisor also recently ruled out a big capital reduction for insurers. London may end up being smaller, but at least it will be safer.”
Tags: BOE, Brexit, Capital reduction, Deviation, Disappointed, EU law, Insurers, London, Looser, Regulatory, Rules, Safer, Smaller, Supervisor, Tighter