MNI: 5 Things We Learned From The Dec BOE MPC Minutes>

     By Jamie Satchithanantham and David Robinson

     LONDON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the December 

MPC monetary policy decision and accompanying minutes published 

Thursday by the Bank of England: 

     - All nine members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy 

Commitee voted to keep the stance of monetary policy unchanged from 

November, in line with market expectations. The minutes overall show 

that the MPC view of the economic outlook has changed little, if at all, 

since the November meeting when it hiked Bank Rate by 25 basis points.  

     - They offered no guidance on the likelihood of a near-term hike, 

nor did they offer any commentary on overall market rate expectations. 

     - Macro data since the Nov meeting was seen as limited but domestic 

activity indicators pointed to Q4 growth coming in softer than in Q3. 

That commentary is at the bearish end of views about Q4 growth, as it 

suggests it could come in below the 0.4% q/q seen in Q3.     

     - Provisional estimates by Bank staff saw the measures implemented 

in the Autumn Budget adding 0.3pp to GDP growth over the three-year 

forecast period, with CPI 0.1pp higher as a result of the fiscal 

measures.      

     -  The breakthrough in Brexit talks supports the MPC's conditioning 

assumption that businesses and consumers will act on the belief that 

Brexit will be orderly. The minutes said Brexit developments should 

"support household and consumer confidence."    

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[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$]