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Good afternoon, and welcome to MoneyWeek’s interest rates live blog. We’ll be covering everything you need to know about Thursday’s Bank of England policy meeting, before and after the headline announcement.
If you haven’t already, make sure you visit MoneyWeek’s inflation report live blog for the key economic background to Thursday’s meeting. The headline: UK inflation rose to 2.6% in November, its highest level since March.
Interest rate expectations
Given the increase in inflation, alongside stronger-than-expected wage growth and the anticipated inflationary effects of the Autumn Budget kicking in next year, experts think it is unlikely that the Bank will lower interest rates at its December meeting.
“We don’t expect a cut this week,” says James Smith, developed markets economist at ING, “but better underlying inflation data could unlock faster easing in the spring.”
Similarly, Morningstar’s survey of FactSet analyst expectations suggests that the Bank is likely to hold rates steady at 4.75%.