(Bloomberg) Two years since Covid-19 first emerged, global central banks are about to determine if their economies are strong enough to withstand the impact of its most elaborate mutation yet.
Officials at over a dozen monetary authorities, including the U.S.
First stop, the unreliable girlfriend
Heading into the last November Bank of England meeting investors were fully pricing in a 15bps hike to 0.25% with a further four 25bps being priced in for 2022. However, in a surprise to rate markets, the Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 7-2 to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.10%. The Committee also voted by a majority of 6-3 for the Bank of England to continue with its existing programme of UK government bond purchases maintaining the target at £875 billion and so the total target stock of asset purchases is at £895 billion.Saunders & Ramsden were the dissenters who were in favour of rate hikes. The rest of the MPC wanted to wait on jobs data before hiking rates and the market will be more cautious from here on in about pricing in Bank of England rate hike signals. By Giles Coghlan
By Lewis McLellan
12 Feb 2021
The UK sold its last syndication of the financial year on Tuesday, selling a £2.25bn 2051 index linked bond its first syndication in the format since November 2019. Activity in this area of the curve has been subdued for some time, largely due to the twin headwinds of RPI reform and Brexit, said a sterling portfolio manager.
The UK Debt Management Office completed a consultation on reforming the retail price index, publishing its response in November.