It is time to lay off quantitative easing?
While the Bank of England has a whistlestop tour of the UK plan for next week, where such subjects as quantitative easing and other investment strategies will be discussed, it appears that quantitative easing may itself be coming to an end. The Bank of England gave its first indication to the London markets that quantitative easing may end in the short term, despite many people assuming it would be increased between now and the next MPC meeting.
The MPC confirmed that the so-called "reverse auctions" would be downsized in the short term thereby allowing the existing £125 billion quantitative easing fund to be stretched to cover the August MPC meeting. The feeling is, completely at odds to just a few days ago, that the Bank of England is set to turn more positive on the UK economy in the short to medium term, in line with the official government version of events.
Even though there is no doubt there has been some improvement in various areas of the UK economy, a number of reports over the last few weeks have appeared to contradict each other and confused consumers, businesses and the authorities alike. While it is very easy to turn the tap off, with regards to quantitative easing, it may not be so easy to turn the tap back on if the UK economy takes another downward lurch.
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