In its fifth meeting this year the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is forecast to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 4% on Thursday (7 August).
So far the BoE has opted to cut rates twice this year (February and March) while holding at the last one in June. But since then the UK macroeconomic picture has changed according to AJ Bell head of investment analysis Laith Khalaf especially around the labour market, which he said was "weakening". The UK economy shed jobs for the fifth consecutive month back in June and wage growth also slowed, raising concerns that the UK is heading for stagflation. The labour market's weakening condition was attributed to the employer National Insurance hike which came into effect in April 2025....
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