In the UK, minutes from the most recent policy meeting of the Bank of England are due for release. Mervyn King and company had unexpectedly expanded their quantitative easing scheme by 50 billion pounds and left the door open to further expansion, saying its scope will remain “under review”. Up to that point, the program had largely failed to boost lending to the real economy. Indeed, loans to non-financial firms fell by a record 14.7 billion pounds while the pace of money supply growth fell for the first time in close to a decade in the second quarter. To that effect, traders will be combing through the meeting’s minutes for the rationale behind the BOE’s apparent belief that another 50 billion pounds in asset purchases will make a meaningful difference after the 125 billion pounds that have already been put to work.
