Bank of England holds rates but vote split surprises markets

LONDON — The Bank of England on Thursday ended its last meeting of the year with a decision to leave interest rates unchanged, after U.K. inflation rose to an eight-month high.

Analysts had widely expected a rate hold at the December meeting, as policymakers remain concerned with stubborn services inflation and wage growth.

The BOE has already taken its key rate from 5.25% to 4.75% this year in two quarter-percentage-point moves.

In a deviation from expectations, three members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to reduce rates, while six were in favor of a hold. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast only one member would vote to cut.

Sterling pared gains against the U.S. dollar directly following the BOE announcement, trading 0.25% higher at 12:06 p.m. The greenback staged a broad rally on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point but signaled a more hawkish outlook for 2025. It gave up some gains on Thursday morning.

In a statement, the central bank said the increase in U.K. headline inflation in November to 2.6% was slightly higher than previously expected, adding that services inflation remained “elevated.”

Money markets this week pared back bets on the pace of further trims next year after the publication of data on inflation and summer wage growth, and are now pricing in roughly 50 basis points of upcoming cuts, down from an outlook of around 70 basis points’ worth of cuts on Monday.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.