UK rate hike ‘on a knife edge’

The Bank of England is still expected to raise interest rates in early 2016 but that prediction now rests on a knife’s edge after the US Federal Reserve delayed its first hike, a Reuters poll of economists found.

Median expectations in the survey of over 60 analysts show the bank increasing the bank rate to 0.75% in the first quarter of 2016 from the current record low of 0.50%.

But that consensus is far from solid.