The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-2 in favor of holding rates steady at a record low of 0.25%. The central bank also cut its current year growth outlook to 1.70% from the 1.90% projected in May. The BoE left its asset-purchase programs unchanged and said its lending scheme would come to an end in February of 2018, as was previously scheduled. Speaking at a press conference following the meeting, Governor Mark Carney said business investment was likely to be negatively impacted by “Brexit”, which should suppress both productivity and wage growth. Money markets are showing that traders have now pushed back their expectations for a rate increase to November 2018. GBPUSD is staging a minor pullback early Friday to last trade around 1.31400.
Pound Slides from 11-Month High
Daily Analysis - 04/08/2017