Bank Of England Weighs Up Ending Its Rate Hike Run

• The Bank of England must decide next week whether to halt its long run of interest rate hikes or push them up again, probably for one last time, despite investor alarm over how banks in the United States and Europe are coping with higher borrowing costs.
• A 25 basis-point rise would take bank rates to 4.25%, where most economists said it would stay for at least a year. But investors have turned more doubtful about the BoE's appetite for more rate hikes in recent days amid mounting anxieties about the global banking sector. Interest rate futures on Friday showed traders were putting a roughly 50-50 chance on the BoE maintaining Bank Rate at 4% next week. A week ago, a pause was given only a 10% chance.
• Economists at Investec said the turmoil in markets had led them to change their call for the BoE's decision to no change. "To our judgment, a pause seems to be the most likely outturn, although that does not necessarily imply that tightening has finished," they said in a note to clients.

(Source: CNBC)