FTSE 100 up 0.12% or 8.43 points to 7,047.73
And the FTSE 250 index is up 0.39 per cent or 86.78 points to 22,472.68.
12:33
Ambrose Crofton, Global Market Strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said:
Today’s MPC decision to keep policy unchanged comes as no surprise as the economic recovery is still in its early days and monetary policy has already been somewhat prescribed for the coming months. The Bank did acknowledge that the economic outlook had improved markedly since its February forecast round, raising its forecasts for growth. Indeed, the punchy cocktail of a reopening economy and excess consumer savings means that the UK economy should be set for a party for the remainder of the year.
Savers who stashed away extra cash totalling around £150billion during the pandemic look set to turbocharge the economy during the rest of 2021, City experts said after analysing the Bank of England s new forecasts.
Laith Khalaf, an analyst at AJ Bell, said: The Bank of England is expecting a consumer spending spree to fuel an explosive economic recovery this year, funded by the war chest savers have built up throughout the pandemic.
Back in February, the BoE predicted 5 per cent of these excess savings would be spent, but that has now been upgraded to 10 per cent over a three-year period.
Bank of England sees faster economic rebound, slows its bond buying
May 6, 2021 11:30 PM PHT
Reuters
The Bank of England (BoE) said Britain s economy would grow by the most since World War II this year and slowed the pace of its trillion-dollar bond-purchasing program, but stressed it was not reversing its stimulus.
Governor Andrew Bailey welcomed the prospect of a stronger recovery than previously forecast as the country races ahead with its coronavirus vaccinations, with much lower unemployment.
But he also said there was still a big gap compared with how big the economy would have been without the pandemic. Let s not get carried away, Bailey said about the improved outlook. It takes us back by the end of this year to the level of output that we had essentially at the end of 2019 pre-COVID.
The recovery is in full swing: UK set for best growth since Second World War
(AFP via Getty Images)
The economy will grow this year at its fastest pace since the Second World War as Britain stages a vaccine-fuelled recovery.
Gross domestic product will rebound by 7.25 per cent in 2021, up from its previous prediction of 5 per cent and the best year of growth since 1941, according to the Bank of England today.
It comes after the pandemic saw the UK suffer the biggest drop in output for 300 years in 2020, when it plummeted by 9.8 per cent.
The rapid progress of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and the lifting of restrictions is seeing the economy rebound sharply as consumers spend savings built up over lockdown.