MPC minutes show the BOE sat on their hands while the Greek saga unfolded

The thing with these minutes is that it's sometimes hard not to think about what we know now compared to when the minutes were written. Two weeks ago we were in the midst of the Greek mess and that played a big part in the decision of the members;

"For a number of members, the balance of risks to medium-term inflation relative to the 2% target was becoming more skewed to the upside at the current level of Bank Rate. For these members, the uncertainty caused by recent developments in Greece was a very material factor in their decisions: absent that uncertainty, the decision between holding Bank Rate at its current level versus a small increase was becoming more finely balanced."

As I mentioned in the release post, that Greek risk should be removed for next month and that leaves the door open for the hawks to make their move

On the inflation front the committee still see inflation picking up sharply towards the end of the year but there is some uncertainty over the rise in the pound translating into lower price pressures;

"The Committee set monetary policy to meet the 2% inflation target in the medium term, and in a way that helped to sustain growth and employment. In that context, it remained essential to distinguish between the near-term influences on inflation that were temporarily holding it well below the target rate, and those influences that would determine the path of inflation thereafter."

How are we left?

The risk has increased that we see at least 2-3 members change their votes in August. As I also mentioned earlier we will get the minutes at the same time as the announcement so there will be no waiting around to see who's done what

The pound stays firmly bid after the release and I suspect that it will remain so into the next meeting. Of course the data will play a big part but if it's on par with expectations at the least, the quid will keep rising. GBPUSD is still a dip buying pair at the moment and any non-UK effected moves (like good data from the US) will likely be well bought into