The Bank of England has kept bank rates unchanged at 0.5% and has also maintained its bond buying programme at GBP200 billion. The Bank also affirmed its intention to make further bond purchases if needed.
It also confirmed that the UK economy was ‘picking up’ in the fourth quarter of 2009 after a decline in output on previous quarters. The world economy also continued to recover and this helped UK exports.
European stocks had a nightmare day yesterday amid concerns that Portugal, Spain and Greece will face great difficulty in lowering their budget deficits.
The ECB kept rates on hold at 1% and also said that he was confident that Greece can get its budget deficit under control.
“We expect and we are confident that the Greek government will take all the decisions that will permit them to reach that goal” of cutting the deficit below the European Union’s limit, Trichet said at a press conference in Frankfurt today. He said the ECB’s interest rate is “appropriate.”
His comments are slightly different from those he made on January 14th when he stated that Greece couldn’t expect any special treatment from the EU.
Yesterday’s rates
GBP/EUR 1.1470 – 1.14201
GBP/USD 1.5916 – 1.5732
EUR/USD 1.3902 – 1.3728
Data released 5th Feb
JPN: 05.00 Leading Indicators (December)
- Coincident Indicator (December)
ITL: 10.00 CPI (January)
GER: 11.00 Industrial Production (December)
US: 13.30 Non-Farm Payrolls (January) – Average Earnings – Unemployment Rate
US: 20.00 Consumer Credit (December)
