Turns out it was some marketer’s idea of giving the Bank of England’s announcements a bit of pizazz.
Certainly the triple whammy of a decision on interest rates and breakdown of how the MPC voted, as well as a quarterly inflation report are something to keep economists and investors on their toes.
Central banking for the Twitter generation, perhaps?
Like #TuesdayBoozeday or #FlashbackFriday, I half expected Mark Carney to be posing for an Instagram selfie, ploughing through the MPC minutes with a pint and a cheesy grin atop Coq d’Argent.
Anyway, by the time ‘Freaky Friday’ came around we’d had plenty to digest. With an 8 to 1 vote in favour of keeping interest rates in hold, it turns out Committee members are move dovish than commentators have suggested.
Still, this hasn’t dampened predictions for a rate rise, though the consensus now appears to be for the first move to occur next rather than this year.
The Bank’s new-found transparency was not lost on David Zahn, head of European fixed income at Franklin Templeton, who suggested it has been clear for some time that interests will rise more gradually, over a longer period, with a lower end point, than has previously been the case.
“A relatively doveish report, combined with a stronger pound effectively doing much of the Bank’s heavy lifting, relaxes any pressure on the MPC to introduce an early rate rise,” he said.
“Instead I’d expect the first rise to take place early next year, rather than later in 2015, as some commentators have been suggesting.”
Nick Gartside, international chief investment officer for fixed income at JP Morgan Asset Management, is also not anticipating a rate before February, with the inflation outlook being the key takeaway from last week.
