“Bank of England leaves rates unchanged on back of weak data”

The ‘lag’, ‘trailing leg’ or ‘long wake’ of any economic measure means that its effects are often felt long after the problem it was supposed to solve has disappeared. 2010’s ‘balancing the books within the space of one parliament’ (that went well, didn’t it?), austerity to you and me, is one example.

Thursday at the Bank of England was much like any other day. And then…nothing happened (one for Python fans). Interest rates stayed at 5.25%, just as, in Europe, they stayed at 4%. What does it all mean?

All the fund manager presentations are focusing, not on interest rates, but they’re controlling parent, bond yields. This is what the markets (ie the guys who are the main recipients of bankers’ bonuses) think interest rates are likely to be sooner and often very much later.