Following the Fed’s interest rate decision on Wednesday will be the Bank of England’s call on Thursday.
Consumer price inflation unexpectedly jumped to 10.4% in February, new figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed, which led to the market deciding the monetary policy decision would be an easy one, while others argued it was not cut and dried.
John Leiper at Titan Asset Management said: “This is a real problem for the Bank of England, which will need to stay the course on further rate rises, increasing the probability of recession later in the year.”
The base rate currently stands at 4% and the majority view is that the monetary policy committee will slow down its tightening cycle with 25bps - though the question is whether it will be at this meeting or later.
Capital Economics is one of those predicting a hike to 4.25%, as inflation concerns are paramount, but chief UK economist Paul Dales said the rate decision is “still a very close call”, but the CPI figures give the team a bit more confidence in their forecast.
In equities, gambling software firm Playtech will be updating investors with full-year results.
The FTSE 250 constituent recently announced a strategic partnership with Hard Rock Digital, with the potential for the results to provide a deeper insight into the deal.
Significant announcements
Finals: Gulf Keystone Petroleum PLC, Inchcape PLC (LSE:INCH), Playtech PLC (LSE:PTEC), Pollen Street PLC (LSE:POLN), Portmeirion (AIM:PMP) Group PLC, Safestyle UK PLC (AIM:SFE), Sopheon PLC (AIM:SPE)
Trading updates: C&C Group PLC (LSE:CCR)
AGMs: Bankers Investment Trust PLC (LSE:BNKR), BlackRock Throgmorton Trust PLC, Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC, Driver Group (AIM:DRV) PLC, Hardide PLC (AIM:HDD), IDOX PLC, LPA Group (AIM:LPA) PLC, Zaim Credit Systems PLC (LSE:ZAIM)
Economic announcements: BoE Interest Rate Decision (UK), Continuing Claims (US), Current Account (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), New Homes Sales (US)
Ex-dividend: British American Tobacco, Schroders, Pearson, Prudential