Life in the old buck yet

The dollar was in the ascendancy from mid-2021 through to autumn 2022 as hikes in US interest rates, rising US bond yields and elevated geo-political tensions drove the currency to twenty year highs

BoE hikes by further 25bps to 4.5%, raises growth forecast

As expected, the May meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) saw the central bank announce a 25bps rate increase.

Economic data have generally surprised to the upside year-to-date, though GDP growth was sluggish in Q1. Tighter credit and lending conditions could weigh on activity as year progresses.