Rates left unchanged by Bank of England

Reasons for the decision will not be known until minutes of today's meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee are published in two weeks' time. Some pundits have been saying, however, that with signs the housing market is cooling and uncertainty over the strength of consumer spending - notwithstanding surprisingly strong figures recently - it is unlikely rates would rise before Christmas. According to other economists, inflationary pressures remain, and they now have greater expectations of another possible increase in the base rate to 5% sometime in the first quarter of 2005. Halif...