Reuters/Toby Melville
Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
- The Bank of England is set to announce its latest interest rate decision at 12.00 p.m. BST (7.00 a.m. ET).
- Just a month ago a rate hike seemed a near certainty, but poor UK economic data has all but killed the chance of rates increasing.
- Last month inflation fell faster than the BoE had expected and the economy grew at its slowest annual rate in five years in early 2018.
LONDON - The Bank of England will shortly announce its latest interest rate decision, with markets expecting the central bank to stay on hold for another month.
Just a month ago a rate hike from 0.5% to 0.75% seemed a near certainty, but poor UK economic data in recent weeks, as well as a dovish speech from Governor Mark Carney, has dampened expectations for any movement in policy.
Heavy snow slowed economic growth in much of Europe in March. Growth was weakest in Britain, where Brexit-related pressures have squeezed consumer spending power and hurt firms' willingness to sign off on major investments.
Subsequent surveys of business and consumer activity showed little rebound in April, adding support to the view of Britain's statistics agency that the slowdown in first-quarter growth to 0.1% was largely unrelated to the weather.
"While policymakers have appeared to be preparing markets for such a hike, the data has turned, with inflation falling back to more acceptable levels - albeit still above target - while quarterly growth fell to only 0.1% in Q1 and surveys on services, manufacturing and construction have underwhelmed," Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said in an email.
The Bank of England will announce its interest rate decisions at 12.00 p.m. BST (7.00 a.m. ET) and Carney gives a press conference around 30 minutes later.
This post will be updated once the decision is announced.