Like the Fed yesterday, the Bank of England today opted to keep interest rates unchanged, as it took a dovish approach in its latest monetary policy meeting.
Similar to the Federal Reserve, the BOE is also targeting a 2% rate of inflation before making any policy adjustments.
In a statement, the MPC stated that, “The Committee does not intend to tighten monetary policy at least until there is clear evidence that significant progress is being made in eliminating spare capacity and achieving the 2% inflation target sustainably”.
When asked whether they could be an earlier shift in its stance, they added that, “It continues to depend on the evolution of the pandemic, measures taken to protect public health, and how households, businesses and financial markets respond to these developments”.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.25% on the news.
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U.S. initial Jobless Claims unexpectedly rise
After seeming to have taken a turn for the better, data released today showed that the U.S. jobs market is out of the woods yet.
Weekly Initial Jobless Claims figures showed that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose in the latest report.
The data released by the Labor Department reported that claims increased by 45,000 to 770,000 for the week which ended March 13th.
Claims which totaled 725,000 in the week prior, were expected to drop by 25,000 this week to 700,000 applications.
This comes as despite the recent $1.9 trillion stimulus bill which was signed by President Biden.
The S&P 500 was trading 1.13% lower during afternoon trading.
Oil prices slip further
Oil prices once again fell on Thursday, as the tide seems to have truly shifted, after five consecutive days of declines.
Price of WTI Crude fell below $60 to an intraday low of $59.05, after trading at a session high of $64.82.
The decline which saw prices drop by over to 8.5%, marked the biggest one day drop since September last year.
Oil prices were recently overbought, and with Europe experiencing vaccination issues, the expected increase in demand for energies may be lower than expected as we leave winter.
Quote of the day – “Never, ever argue with your trading system”
– Michael Covel
