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’Dear George, about that inflation…
April inflation data for the UK is in, and it’s a bit of a bump on the head for the Bank of England: a 3.7 per cent rise in CPI year on year. From the Office of National Statistics release:
In the year to April,
‘Financial crisis is far from over,’ BoE’s King says
The Bank of England’s latest inflation report has just been released.
The top line is that Governor Mervyn King still appears unconcerned about inflation, because if anything the CPI basket will undershoot the target even if rates stay steady.
When what Mervyn King says in private goes public
Or, how one paraphrased quote is making lots of trouble.
Here’s the offending remark:
“I saw the governor of the Bank of England [Mervyn King] last week when I was in London and he told me whoever wins this election will be out of power for a whole generation because of how tough the fiscal austerity will have to be.”
SAVE THE FAN CHARTS!
The Bank of England’s (in)famous inflation fan charts are at risk!
In a Monday lecture, Mervyn King, the bank’s governor, mused on how the BoE communicates information to the masses. Horror of horrors,
Inflating the output gap at the BoE
. . . the risks to the Committee’s central view of a gradual recovery of output remain to the downside.
That’s Bank of England governor Mervyn King testifying to the UK Treasury Committee about the February inflation report.
Mervyn’s letters to the Treasurorians (updated with letter)
As expected, Bank of England governor Mervyn King has been forced once again to write a letter to the Treasury explaining why inflation has risen past the critical 3 per cent mark.
As Reuters reported,
Pangs of gilt(s), redux
In the wake of Wednesday’s inflation report from the Bank of England we pondered whether investors’ patience with the UK budget deficit might be closer to breaking-point than at any time in the past year.
Pangs of gilt(s)
Is Bank of England governor Mervyn King worried about rising gilt yields?
From the just-released February inflation report:
Gilt yields are a bit of a bugbear for the BoE, since the UK’s gilt-buying quantitative easing programme is rather different to that of the US,
Regulation, in pictures
Here’s the SEC enforcement team, led by Robert Khuzami, as portrayed by the New York Times.
And here’s the governor of the Bank of England, at play (we think) ahead of the G7 in Canada, courtesy of The Guardian.
The special (regulatory) relationship
A bit academic perhaps, given the newsflow, but FDIC chairman Sheila Bair and Bank of England governor Mervyn King have been doing the diplomatic shuffle.
In fact they’ve got a memorandum of understanding!
It covers plans for dealing with bust or failing banks with activities in both the US and the UK,
A still slacking MPC
It is clear that inflation is likely to pick up markedly in the first half of this year, a message reinforced by this morning’s news that CPI inflation reached 2.9% in 10 December. The continuing pass-through of the earlier significant depreciation of sterling,
An overseas sterling liability?
Recent developments at the Bank of England have provided ammunition to Britain’s considerable community of eurosceptics.
After all, argue some, had the UK been part of the eurozone it could not have quantitatively eased its way out of deflationary trouble.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Cadbury battle ends with midnight handshake – FT, publication of offer.
- IBM Consulting sales fall 2.8 per cent to $4.58bn – statement.
- Address by Mervyn King to the University of Exeter Business Leaders’ Forum – speech.
Mervyn readies his pen
From Reuters on Tuesday:
LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) – British consumer price inflation rose at its fastest annual pace in nine months in December as a cut in value added sales tax, heavy discounting and a sharp fall in oil prices at the end of 2008 were not repeated in 2009,
Blanchflower accuses BoE’s King
David Blanchflower, the former Bank of England policymaker, has accused Bank governor Mervyn King of keeping “vital” information from him at the height of the financial crisis, reports the Daily Telegraph.
John Kay: ‘Too big to fail’ is too dumb to keep
The FT columnist has weighed into the debate over whether big banks should be broken up. Extract:
“The governor of the Bank of England is one of the few public officials to have grasped that the primary purpose of regulation is to protect the public,
Brown and Darling rebuke King
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling on Wednesday rebuked Mervyn King, Bank of England governor, over his call this week to break-up Britain’s biggest banks. King, who is increasingly seen as an opponent of government policy,
King urges bank break-ups
Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, called on Tuesday for banks to be split into separate utility companies and risky ventures, saying it was “a delusion” to think tougher regulation would prevent future crises.
King gets Churchillian and declares: ‘Break up the banks’
Never in the field of financial endeavour has so much money been owed by so few to so many. And, one might add, so far with little real reform.
That’s Bank of England governor Mervyn King, speaking in Edinburgh on Tuesday night.
My King-dom for some QE guidance
Tuesday is a big day for quantitative easing watchers in the UK.
As a reminder, markets are holding their collective breath to see whether the Bank of England will vote to increase, pause or end its £175bn asset-purchasing programme at its November interest rate meeting.
Morgan Stanley: The BoE will cut deposit remuneration
Bank of England governor Mervyn King may have told economists this week, that the Bank had no immediate plans to change the rate paid to commercial banks on sums deposited overnight, but it appears not everyone believes him.
Mervyn calls the tune
Presenting the bouncing pound:
(The graph for euro/sterling is similar).
The latest gains, of course, follow the economist get-together at Threadneedle Street on Tuesday. Bank of England directors (reportedly) told City economists that they had no immediate plans to change the rate paid to commercial banks on sums deposited overnight.
Why Lloyds won’t be paying its TV licence this year
Some of you may have caught Bank of England governor Mervyn King’s appearance in the BBC Two documentary ‘The Love of Money,’ on Thursday evening.
If not, and if you are located in the UK, you can catch it here on BBC iPlayer.
Pound falls on governor’s comments
Sterling dropped to a fresh five-month low against the euro on Thursday after traders took comments from Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, to mean the central bank was comfortable with a weaker pound.
King for pan-Europe watchdog
Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, has emerged as the leading candidate to become deputy of a Europe-wide board tracking the stability of financial institutions and co-ordinating risk supervision by national bank regulators.
King rules out rapid economic recovery
The pound fell and yields on government bonds sank to record lows on Tuesday after Mervyn King, Bank of England governor, doused hopes of a swift economic rebound and warned households and businesses of a “slow and protracted”
Mervyn King’s bank deposit slap down
Yowch!
Remember the hooplah over UK banks hoarding all that lovely QE money instead of passing it into the banking system? Well, the BoE’s Mervyn King said on Tuesday that he was ready to reduce the rate paid on deposits held at the central bank — a la the Swedish example — to make them lend.
How to deal with bank hoarding
QE galore in the UK, and yet banks are reportedly still failing to pass on the extra liquidity. A recent report by Investec pointed out commercial banks were holding some £138bn on account at the Bank of England.