BoE holds rates amid signs of slowing global economy

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged yesterday. Reuters reports:

The Bank of England left interest rates on hold despite spiralling inflation as slowing Chinese exports growth and faltering European industry provided further evidence on Thursday that global growth is teetering...

Despite inflation overshooting the UK's two percent target by a distance, its central bank kept official rates at 5.0 percent, suggesting it expects economic doldrums to rein in prices sooner or later...

British house prices fell at their sharpest annual pace in at least two decades in June, a survey showed on Thursday, a downturn that threatens to plunge the economy into recession.

The Bank of Korea was unmoved for the 11th month running at its policy review on Thursday, hoping intervention to prop up its currency will contain price pressures running at their highest in almost 10 years.

The latest economic data provide justification for concerns about a slowing global economy.

French industrial production fell 2.6 percent on a monthly basis in May, the national statistics office said on Thursday, much more than forecasts for a 0.5 percent drop.

Similarly, Italian industrial output was much weaker than expected in May, posting the largest monthly drop since September last year, down 1.4 percent on the month...

The trade surplus in China, the world's fourth-largest economy which has grown at a heady pace, hit $21.35 billion in June, up from $20.21 billion, but the annual pace of exports was slower than expected at 17.6 percent.