Bank of England holds rates steady, confounding expectations

By PAN PYLAS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has confounded market expectations and held interest rates steady. It said Thursday that it wanted to see more information about what happens to unemployment after the government recently ended a program that subsidized worker pay during the coronavirus pandemic. The decision to keep the bank’s main interest rate at 0.1% was a surprise given the sharp pickup in inflation in recent months. Financial markets had been pricing a rate rise to 0.25%, prompting some mortgage lenders to withdraw some of their cheapest loans. The rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee panel says there’s “value” in waiting for further information in the labor market following the end of the government salary program.