Bank of England Hikes Interest Rates by 15bps to 0.25%

The Bank of England announced on Thursday that it would hike its benchmark interest rate by 15bps at 0.25%. Leading up to the meeting, markets had been pricing a roughly 60% chance of a hike, with these odds rising in wake of Wednesday’s hotter than expected UK November Consumer Price Inflation report, which came on the heels of a strong labor market report on Tuesday.

The majority of economists had expected the BoE to hold interest rates at 0.1%, though these polls (conducted by newswires) were released prior to Wednesday’s inflation surprise.