Bank of England
No Changes Announced By Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee
August 5, 2010
The Bank of England as expected left its Bank Rate at 0.5% and its asset purchase program ceiling at Gbp 200 billion and released a bare bones statement informing investors that minutes of this month’s meeting will be published August 18th, one week after the scheduled quarterly Inflation Report due August 11. The statement gave [...] More
Stocks Up Ahead of ECB and BOE Decisions and U.S. Claims Data
August 5, 2010
Equities overnight rose 1.7% in Japan, 2.1% in Indonesia, 0.9% in Thailand and 0.5% in Australia. In Europe, stocks have traded up 0.9% in France and by 0.4% in Germany and Britain. Some markets bucked the trend: there were losses of 0.9% in China, 0.3% in South Korea and 0.2% in India. A disappointing jump [...] More
Preview: Thursday’s ECB and Bank of England Decisions
August 4, 2010
Neither the ECB nor the Bank of England will change their respective key rates of 1.0% and 0.5%. There has not been a rate change since March 2009 in Britain’s case or May of last year at the ECB. The Bank of England reached the ceiling of its Gbp 200 billion asset purchase plan in [...] More
Wednesday Spotlight on Central Banks
July 21, 2010
The euro fell 0.7% against the dollar, 0.5% against sterling, and over 1% against the yen. Concern about Friday’s stress test results, which have been discredited already in the eyes of many investors, continues to rattle the European common currency even as European stocks advance. Commodity sensitive currencies are firmer. The loonie, kiwi, and Aussie [...] More
Bank of England Made No Changes
July 8, 2010
A typically terse statement with just the bare facts was posted on the Bank of England website at 11:00 GMT today. The announced news had been expected. Officials decided to maintain its Bank Rate at 0.5% and the size of the asset purchase program at £200 billion. Investors will not learn if other members of [...] More
Mixed U.S. Dollar Ahead of ECB Press Conference
July 8, 2010
Against commodity-sensitive currencies, the dollar has lost 1.0% versus the Aussie dollar, 0.5% against the kiwi, and 0.2% relative to the loonie. The dollar has on the other hand risen 0.5% against the yen, 0.4% against sterling and 0.1% vis-a-vis the Swiss franc. EUR/USD is steady. Stocks in the Pacific Rim advanced by 2.4% in [...] More
Bank of England Preview
July 7, 2010
The June 9th meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee ended in a split 7-1 to maintain present policy settings, a Bank Rate of 0.5% — the level since March 2009 — and Gbp 200 billion stock of asset purchases, a level reached in January but not extended beyond that limit subsequently. Member [...] More
Bank of England Minutes Contain a Surprise Dissenting Vote
June 23, 2010
The dollar fell 0.7% against sterling and by 0.8% against the kiwi. Other dollar moves were small: up 0.3% against the loonie but down 0.2% against the yen and 0.1% relative to the euro and Aussie dollar. The Swiss franc is steady. So is the yuan after climbing 0.4% on Monday and retreating 0.2% on [...] More
Bank of England Policy Remains on Hold
May 10, 2010
An inconclusive election result in which no party won a majority of the British parliament’s 650 seats left the Bank of England with no other choice than to leave its policy settings of a 0.5% Bank Rate and a Gbp 200 ceiling on its asset purchase program as they were. Talks continue between the Conservative [...] More
Bank of England: No Policy Changes as Expected
April 8, 2010
At 11:00 GMT, a newly designed Bank of England website confirmed what everyone expected: no changes in the 0.5% Bank Rate or the Gbp 200 billion ceiling of the asset purchase facility (APF). The Bank Rate was last reduced in March 2009, and quantitative easing via the APF reached its present limit after January. In [...] More
