Oil spike from renewed Middle East hostilities has revived internal debate at the Bank of England over whether to raise rates before year-end. The MPC meets later this week to review Bank Rate and the pace of balance‑sheet reduction. A bond-market selloff is adding pressure to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government ahead of the Oct. 28 budget. Market pricing shows under a one‑third chance of a rate hike at Thursday’s September policy meeting, but higher energy-driven inflation and relatively f

Oil spike from renewed Middle East hostilities has revived internal debate at the Bank of England over whether to raise rates before year-end. The MPC meets later this week to review Bank Rate and the pace of balance‑sheet reduction. A bond-market selloff is adding pressure to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government ahead of the Oct. 28 budget. Market pricing shows under a one‑third chance of a rate hike at Thursday’s September policy meeting, but higher energy-driven inflation and relatively firm UK GDP are likely to sharpen discussion over how long Bank Rate can remain at 3.75%. Deutsche Bank economist Sanjay Raja: “The Bank’s patience may be running out; the case for inaction is slowly eroding.”