U.K. Data Shouts for Long Pause After First BOE Rate Hike
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The Bank of England may be on track for the first rate increase in a decade next month, but economic data doesn’t bode well for an imminent, full-blown tightening cycle.
After U.K. purchasing managers indexes this week that ranged from sluggish to disappointing to downright alarming, a growing number of economists predict that a hike from Governor Mark Carney in November could be a case of one-and-done. While Wednesday’s services number came in above forecasts, the non-headline gauges made for troublesome reading, showing that growth in new business fell to the weakest in more than a year and confidence declined.