13h 60m ago08:01 That’s all from Markets Today this week. Join us on this link Monday as we kick off a busy week in central-bank land. Have an excellent weekend, and good luck for anyone doing their Christmas shopping on the high street. 14h 9m ago07:51 The Bank of England is set to announce its next policy decision next Thursday, with policy makers and markets still at odds over the outlook for rates. The decision comes almost exactly two years since officials kicked off their hiking cycle. Given all the criticism that has gone the BOE’s way since, it’s easy to forget that it was the first major central bank to hike rates after the pandemic, and the first move came while the UK was in the teeth of the Omicron wave of Covid (so much so that the BOE cancelled its traditional lock up and we had to cover the decision from our homes.) Now though, despite the BOE’s best efforts, all the focus is on which central bank will cut rates first. Market pricing suggests traders expect the first move to come in June, later than either the Fed or the ECB. While the sequencing of that may please BOE officials (as it will allow them to paint themselves as the first in, last out of the global hiking cycle) the fact that three hikes are priced in for next year certainly won’t. To that end, anything other than a towing of the line that the bank will keep rates elevated for a long period, and that now is not the time to entertain rate cuts, would be a big surprise. Whether the market — which has shrugged off repeated hawkish rhetoric in recent weeks — will listen, however, is a more open question. Next week is […]
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