David Lamb (pictured), head of dealing at the forex specialists FEXCO, on Mark Carney’s latest press conference…
Mark Carney's press conference revealed that he too gave up something for the New Year – forecasting interest rate rises.
Understandably the Governor chose not to mention the large amount of egg left on his face after the embarrassing ditching of his prediction – made last summer – that we would have greater clarity on interest rates at the start of 2016.
With UK inflation continuing to be dragged down by tumbling commodity prices, the prospect of an interest rate rises is as remote as ever.
The confirmation that the doves now rule the roost on the Bank of England's rate setting committee – with even the serial hawk Ian McCafferty now abandoning his calls for a rate hike – mean all bets are off on interest rate policy.
Ordinarily this would send the Pound plunging, but the Pound's steady fall in January and the Governor's bullish assessment of the UK's domestic growth prospects combined to neutralise the impact.
The Bank may have all but confirmed the market's hunch that UK interest rates won't budge until 2017, but the Pound has emerged bruised rather than broken from the experience.
