Bradbury: No rate rise this week

The MPC is highly unlikely to raise interest rates this week but will begin to hike in the second quarter as GDP improves, says OMAM's Ashton Bradbury.

The head of equities says he would be "very surprised" if rates were hiked at the MPC meeting tomorrow, despite inflation being above target for a long period of time. "Q4's disappointing GDP figures will cloud the picture a bit for this meeting, but I suspect in the coming few months rates will be modestly raised for the MPC's credibility. "GDP will bounce back in Q1 and this combined with inflation are sufficient reasons to raise." Bradbury is optimistic on the UK market, forecasting equity markets will lift 10% to 15% over the next 12 to 18 months. "The UK market is not expen...