Bank of England

Sir Mervyn King was handed roughly £13,000 of leaving presents, including a £10,000 portrait of himself, when he left the Bank of England in June.

Sterling rose against other major currencies this morning after the minutes from Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting showed most members backed Mark Carney's forward guidance policy on interest rates.

UK EQUITIES

Fixed income managers have cautioned the Bank of England (BoE) will be forced to backtrack on its forward guidance measures as it has been too pessimistic over the state of the UK economy.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is an advocate of the virtues of communication, but he may have already backed himself into a corner in his attempt to set out a clear policy path.

The FTSE 100 closed 1.4% down on Wednesday after new Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave the market forward guidance, but sterling recovered after an initial drop.

The Bank of England has said it will not raise the base rate of interest before unemployment falls to 7%, and warned investors are still expecting rates to rise sooner than is likely.

It would be an understatement to say it has been an interesting and, in many ways, frustrating recent period for bond managers.

INFLATION

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will this week set out his long-awaited strategy for interest rates with a set of policies designed to reassure borrowers rates will stay low for many months to come.