Bank of England expected to hold off on rate hike - Reuters

The Bank of England (BoE) is widely expected to hold off on a rate increase for today's rate call, as the UK's central bank has had to walk back their hawkish tone recently in the aftermath of a wave of disappointing economic figures. As noted by Reuters, the BoE was set for a rate hike until just a few weeks ago.

Key quotes

"Now investors want to see if Carney tries to keep market expectations of an August rate hike alive when he gives a news conference shortly after the 1100 GMT (7.00 a.m. ET) rate announcement, or if he decides that hedging his bets is a safer strategy.

Since he joined the BoE in 2013, Carney has signaled several times that the time was nearing for rates to rise from the historic low of 0.5 percent reached during the 2008-09 financial crisis, only for economic data to go the wrong way.

Heavy snow slowed economic growth in much of Europe in March. But growth was weakest in Britain, where - less than a year before Britain is due to leave the European Union - Brexit-related pressures have squeezed consumer spending power and hurt firms’ willingness to sign off on major investments."