Some market participants expected no change in the size of QE, while others predicted an expansion of 25 billion pounds. The interest rate was left unchanged at 0.50% as expected.
GBP/USD was flirting with the very round 1.50 line towards the publication and it is now on the rise. The peak so far has been 1.5070.
In the last rate decision, 3 out of 9 members voted for more QE, and one of the supporters was outgoing governor Mervyn King. This raised expectations for a move this time. It will be interesting to see if King was outvoted once again.
The last time that the QE program was modified was back in July 2012, when the Monetary Policy Committee decided to expand it from 325 to 375 billion pounds.
For more lines, see the GBPUSD forecast.
There have been quite a few negative signs from Britain of late, but the most recent services PMI was relatively upbeat.
So now, we are all set for the third announcement of the day: the euro-zone rate decision.
