Sterling whipsaws as Carney sets record straight on rates

Sterling dropped and then recovered sharply minutes after new Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told the world he has no plans to raise rates any time soon, but was upbeat on UK growth.

Delivering his first major speech since taking over from Sir Mervyn King, Carney said UK interest rates could remain at record lows for some time to come. He said the squeeze on households from high inflation is set to fall back, adding "it would not make sense to choke off the recovery by raising interest rates prematurely". However, he added a "renewed recovery" is taking place in the economy, with jobless rates set to fall, and this provided a boost to the pound even though the Governor tempered this by saying any fall in the unemployment rate might take some time. From around $...