BoE

Economy policy in difficult times: the risk of trying to drive the economy back to the peak of the cycle

European economy 17th September 2020

BoE: “We Continue To Expect A £75bn Extension Of QE In November”

The Bank of England (BoE) left policy on hold at its latest meeting. Bank Rate remained at 0.1% and the Asset Purchase Facility (APF) was left at £745bn. Both decisions were made unanimously. The BoE explained that the APF had risen to £684bn to date, buoyed by £230bn in gilt purchases and £9.3bn (of £10bn) corporate debt purchases. The current QE programme is expected to expire around the turn of the year and purchases have been lower than in Q2 given the improvement in liquidity conditions.

European economy 14th September 2020

BoE Preview: No Change Expected

BoE will announce its next policy decision on Thursday (noon). We expect no change in policy parameters. Current policy: Bank rate at +0.1%. OngoingQE, total YTD envelope of +£300bn (+£232bn of which bought so far), with latest +100bn announced in June.At the last meeting in June, BoE also added a weak form of forward guidance (“The Committee does not intend to tighten monetary policy until there is clear evidence that significant progress is being made in eliminating spare capacity and achieving the 2% inflation target sustainably.”) Expectation:…

European economy 6th August 2020

BoE Policy Unchanged – Negative Rate Debate Rages

David Page, Head of Macro Research at AXA Investment Managers | The BoE left policy unchanged with Bank Rate at 0.1% and Asset Purchase Target at £745bn by unanimous vote. The Monetary Policy Report included projections for GDP to fall by 9.5% in 2020 and rebound by 9% in 2021. CPI was forecast to fall to 0.25% by end-2020, but to recover to 2% by end-2022. The MPC noted considerable uncertainty, but with risks skewed to the downside. The Report presented some discussion around the outlook for negative interest rates, which it confirmed it was “currently considering”.

European economy 16th June 2020

BoE Preview: We Expect The BoE To Add Another +100bn (+5% of GDP) Of QE Purchases

Peder Beck-Friis, (Portfolio Manager, Global Macro PIMCO) | BoE will announce its next policy decision on Thursday (noon, UK time). We expect them to leave the policy rate unchanged at 0.1% and to add +100bn of QE purchases. This is in line with market pricing.

European economy 7th May 2020

BoE Chooses To Wait In Face Of Uncertainty

David Page (Head of Macro Research at AXA Investment Managers) | The Bank of England (BoE) today announced its monetary policy decision for May. It left the Bank Rate unchanged at 0.10% as widely expected, by unanimous vote. It also left QE unchanged, leaving the Asset Purchase Facility target unchanged at £645bn. This was in line with the median consensus forecast, but we had expected a £100bn increase in QE today as the current programme is set to expire in early July. This was by split decision, with two members voting for an immediate £100bn increase. The majority of the Committee decided to wait for “more information… that was likely to become available over the coming weeks”, but these members “all” acknowledged prospective weakness in the economy and downside risks to the medium term outlook “might necessitate further monetary policy action to support the economy in the future”. We fully expect the MPC to increase QE, probably by £100bn at its next meeting on 18 June.

In Europe 14th July 2016

BoE Leaves Rates On Hold Despite Brexit Concerns

It came as a surprise for market makers: the Bank of England left borrowing costs at 0.5% on Thursday in spite of the Brexit fears. Also, the central bank will keep the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £375 billion and hinted it could launch a stimulus package in August. The pound spiked to two-week high and FTSE 100 turned negative after the announcement.

In Europe 12th November 2014

Things to watch before lunch: UK inflation report, EZ production data

MADRID | The Corner | Euro area industrial production, the BoE Inflation Report and UK labour market data will be watched closely today. Barclays analysts expect euro area production to rise 0.7% m/m in September, partially offsetting August’s sharp drop. The Inflation Report is likely to shed light on recent BoE policy decisions, including possible downward revisions of its inflation and unemployment forecasts. UK consumer inflation fell to 1.2 per cent in September, a hefty 0.5 percentage point lower than the BoE expected just three months ago.

In Europe 11th September 2014

EU housing prices: Germany starts to recover while UK dispels a possible bubble

MADRID | The Corner | Historically, German housing prices have remained flat, but since 2011 they have increased by 30% (a low figure when compared with +150% growth of the last 15 years in UK, France and Spain). Morgan Stanley analysts already see signs of recovery in the German residential sector, so the stocks exposed to it may be attractive. Moreover, housing prices in the UK have fallen significantly more than expected: 40% in August from 48% in July, instead of the 47% expected fall. It’s the lowest level of the past 12 months. According to Bankinter, this is a good sign “because it dissipates the fear of a possible housing bubble and reduces the BoE arguments to raise its main interest rate in advance.”

In Europe 21st August 2014

The BoE might be the first big Western Central Bank to raise its interest rates

MADRID | By J. J. Figares (LINK) | On Wednesday, the minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England (BoE) were published. Although 9 of its members voted to retain unchanged its program of asset purchases in secondary markets, 2 of them, Ian McCafferty and Martin Weal, they voted against the proposal to keep interest rates reference at the current level of 0.5% and advocated to increase them by a quarter percentage point.

World economy 18th August 2014

Jackson Hole: Without inflationary pressures on the horizon

MADRID | The Corner | Central bankers are meeting this week in Jackson Hole to talk about employment and its weakness in general terms. Unlike what is happening in Europe, US and UK are seeing improvement in employment (their unemployment rates have decreased from 10% to 6.2% and from 8.4% to 6.4%, respectively) with the curiosity that they’re not coming with wage increases. In fact, last British data shows the first fall since 2009. This circumstance means less inflationary pressures, therefore Bankinter analysts think that central banks will not start to tense its monetary policy until wages begin to invigorate, something that will take some months to arrive.

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