Sterling soars after BoE hints at more hawkish rate stance

Sterling has spiked further against the dollar and other currencies after strong retail sales and minutes of the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting stirred up the rate hike debate.

Minutes of the MPC's May meeting revealed rate setters are edging closer to a decision to hike interest rates, while UK retail sales in April reached the strongest level of annual growth since 2004. The two announcements, published at the same time, pushed sterling to an intra-day high of $1.6920 against the dollar, up from $1.6887, earlier this morning. Although all MPC members voted to keep interest rates and gilt purchases unchanged, economists suggest some rate setters are not far off from voting for a rate hike. "For some members the monetary policy decision was becoming more ...