Headlines:
- BOE raises bank rate by 25 bps to 4.50%, as expected
- What's the takeaway from the BOE decision?
- What now after the US CPI data yesterday?
- Yellen: US default would produce economic, financial 'catastrophe'
- ECB's Nagel reaffirms sticking to meeting-by-meeting approach
- ECB's de Cos: We are now closer to the final cycle of rate hikes
- China April M2 money supply +12.4% vs +12.5% y/y expected
Markets:
- JPY leads, AUD lags on the day
- European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures down 0.1%
- US 10-year yields down 4 bps to 3.396%
- Gold up 0.4% to $2,037.13
- WTI crude flat at $72.57
- Bitcoin down 1.5% to $27,445
All eyes were on the BOE today and they delivered as expected, raising the bank rate by 25 bps without much of a hiccup.
There were some hawkish elements to the decision though, as they bumped up projections on inflation and also GDP forecasts. At the same time, the central bank is now not looking for a UK recession. As such, that helped to give the pound a minor lift in the aftermath of the decision.
GBP/USD sank earlier from 1.2620 to 1.2570 on a stronger dollar, before recovering slightly to 1.2600 now.
The dollar in general held firmer throughout the session despite some early resilience in equities, with EUR/USD falling from 1.0960 to 1.0920 and USD/CHF moving up from 0.8890 to 0.8950 before easing slightly.
The commodity currencies are the laggards with AUD/USD down 0.7% to 0.6730, after being pushed back by its 100-day moving average near 0.6800 once again.
The yen was somewhat steadier, although the gains were helped out by lower Treasury yields following the BOE decision. USD/JPY moved up to a high of 134.85 during the session but is now down 0.1% to 134.20 on the day.
There's still a lot of pushing and pulling going on in broader markets and so far the not-so-surprising key risk events this week are not really offering much to work with in general.
