Bank of England holds interest rates at 4.75% after inflation uptick

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.

Economists 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.

Money markets this week pared back bets on the pace of further trims next year after the publication of data on November 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.

The BOE’s latest decision comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday. While the reduction itself was expected, traders were surprised by the central bank’s indication that it would probably would only lower rates twice more in 2025.

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