The Bank of England is highly likely to keep rates on hold at this week's meeting (5 February), but will it open the door to earlier rate cuts? Judging by the Bank’s surprisingly hawkish December decision, we suspect not. While it cut rates, it hinted that the “cadence of rate cuts” could slow. And let’s face it, that wasn’t exactly fast in the first place. But interest rates are getting closer to neutral and as lots of central banks are telling us, that makes the decision to cut them further more balanced. And so long as inflation is above 3% (it was 3.4% in December), there’s a lingering worry among the hawks that ... (full story)