December interest rates: Bank of England keeps rates on hold

The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at 4.75% in the final Monetary Policy Committee meeting of 2024. Full analysis from the MoneyWeek team.

Interest rates summary

  • The Bank of England has voted to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75%.
  • The result is in line with expectations. Analysts had pretty much ruled a cut out after measures announced in the Autumn Budget were deemed inflationary.
  • Inflation also ticked up in November to 2.6%, and wage growth accelerated to 5.2% in the latest report.
  • So far this year, the Bank of England has cut interest rates twice from a peak of 5.25%.
  • The TUC called for an interest rate cut ahead of the announcement, saying "the economy is still fragile".
  • The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates overnight, but markets have fallen since in response to hawkish rhetoric.
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Good afternoon, and welcome to MoneyWeek’s interest rates live blog. We’ll be covering everything you need to know about Thursday’s Bank of England policy meeting, before and after the headline announcement.

If you haven’t already, make sure you visit MoneyWeek’s inflation report live blog for the key economic background to Thursday’s meeting. The headline: UK inflation rose to 2.6% in November, its highest level since March.

Interest rate expectations

More bad news for house buyers

Could the UK fall behind?

How significant is November’s inflation reading?

Why might the BoE be hesitant to cut rates?

Elsewhere in interest rates

TUC calls for interest rates cut

Thanks for joining us today. That’s all from us this evening, though as above, follow Kiplinger’s blog for live updates from the Federal Reserve’s meeting.

Good morning, and welcome back to MoneyWeek's live interest rates blog. Dan here, ready to take you through this morning's analysis and build-up to the Bank of England's interest rates announcement. As a reminder, that's expected at 12pm today.

The big news overnight: the Federal Reserve cut US interest rates by 25 basis points yesterday, bringing the Fed Funds rate to 4.5%.

FTSE 100 falls ahead of interest rates decision

What interest rates mean for your finances

Is the Bank one step ahead?

Breaking: Bank of England holds rates at 4.75%

The decision to hold rates was based on a 6-3 voting split, with three members preferring to cut rates. They included Swati Dhingra, known for her dovish stance, Dave Ramsden and Alan Taylor.

Reeves responds to Bank decision

Bank reiterates its gradual stance

"Bank of England risks backing itself into a corner"

Where will interest rates go in 2025?

What does it mean for mortgage rates?

What is stagflation – and are we heading towards it?

How have markets reacted to the base rate decision?

Cuts in February?

On the other hand...

That's all from us today. Thanks for following our live blog, and we look forward to joining you again for the next Bank of England interest rates meeting.