The only surprise on the rate hike decision was that the vote was 9-0, so no dissent rom Cunliffe
b) Forecast changes were modest, some tinkering with CPI forecasts but only in the second decimal place, thus 1-yr 2.15%, 2-yr 2.09% and 3-r 2.03%; GDP forecast for 2018n held at 1.4%, for 2019 edge up to 1.8% from 1.7% and held at 1.7% for 2020. The only major change was on wage growth for 2018, revised down AGAIN to 2.5% (vs. 2.75%), but 2019 still seen at 3.25% and 2020 at 3.50%, Unemployment a\retb forecast shaved to 3.9% from 4.0% (#immaterial). The problem with that is that they had been forecasting a substantial pick-up for 2018, but have been forced that to revise that away, so why should anyone give credit to their forecasts now.
c) Neutral Interest Rate - for all the furore about this ahead of the meeting, this was in truth very underwhelming - the estimate is for a real rate of zero to 1.0%, or in nominal Base Rate terms 2.0-3.0%, though the short-term neutral rate is estimated to be "lower". As one could probably drive a fleet of buses through that range, this is, to put it politely, not helpful or any use
d) Outside of this there is no comment on whether the BoE sees the current market rate trajectory as being appropriate or not (Carney will doubtless get a question about this in the presser), and lots of caveats relating to Brexit and trade tension uncertainties.
As I noted ahead of the meeting, this always looked as though it would be ant-climactic, and barring some unlikely surprises from Carney & co in the press conference, the 'meh' reaction from markets looks to be wholly unsurprising.
MARC OSTWALD
Global; Strategist & Chief Economist
ADM Investor Services International Limited