UK MPC Official Bank Rate Votes

A flurry of major central banks will hold monetary policy meetings this week, with investors bracing for interest rate moves in either direction. The Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated two-day meeting, which gets underway on Tuesday, is poised to take center stage. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to join others around the world in starting its own rate-cutting cycle. The only remaining question appears to be by how much the Fed will reduce rates. Traders currently see a quarter-point cut as the most likely outcome, ...

The Bank of England may have started cutting rates ahead of the Federal Reserve, but you wouldn’t know it listening to recent comments from the UK's central bank. The tone of the August meeting and subsequent speeches have made it abundantly clear that officials don’t want markets running away with the idea that this is going to be a rapid easing cycle. Markets have taken notice. Not only are investors pricing fewer cuts before the end of this year, but they expect rate cuts to land at a higher level in the UK than the US too. That ...

Our Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decides what monetary policy action to take. The MPC sets and announces policy eight times a year (roughly once every six weeks). In this video, the MPC discusses the decisions taken in August 2024 and answers questions from the press.

Financial markets reckon Thursday’s Bank of England meeting is a 50:50 call between the first 25bp rate cut and another ‘on hold’ decision. We’re leaning towards a cut, though we agree nothing is for certain. We know that this week’s decision will hinge on a handful of committee members who felt the June decision was “finely balanced”. We’ve heard very little from officials since the general election was called in June, and that means it’s tricky to gauge how they are interpreting the recent upside news on services inflation. This ...

Forecasters are very unsure about which way this month’s BoE MPC announcement will go but, on balance, seem to expect what would be the first cut in Bank Rate since March 2020. However, if so, it is likely to be a very close vote. June saw a relatively clear 7-2 split in favour of no change but official comments since then have hinted that the easing camp might now have a small majority. That said, uncertainty has been heightened by the blackout period for central bank rhetoric in the run up to the 4 July general election and with ...