Bank of England and ECB both hold interest rates

Today’s interest rate decisions saw the Bank of England and European Central Bank both keeping rates on hold.

Although the Bank of England are very unlikely to raise rates in the coming few months, the European policy makers may be raising rates sooner, which has led to Euro strength and worse exchange rates for sending money to Europe.

The ECB President, Jean-Claude Trichet, also indicated in his accompanying speech that European interest rates are unlikely to go up in June. The Euro has weakened off accordingly, giving exchange rates a 2c improvement during the course of the day.

We will have to wait another 2 weeks to find out the basis of the Bank of England’s decision, when the Minutes are released.