UK consumer lending growth slows to weakest since 2015 - BoE

British consumers increased their borrowing by the smallest amount since mid-2015 in the three months to November, suggesting households are slowly reining in spending, Bank of England figures showed on Thursday. 

Britain’s economy saw lackluster growth for most of 2017 - especially compared to its faster-growing neighbours - and Thursday’s BoE data suggest this pattern continued toward the end of the year.

The central bank said unsecured consumer lending in the three months to November grew at an annualised rate of 8.5 percent, down from 9.3 percent in the three months to October and its weakest since June 2015.

The BoE has played down any suggestion of a debt bubble, though it has acknowledged pockets of risk and required banks to set aside more money against the risk of bad loans.

The central bank raised interest rates for the first time in more than a decade in November, reversing a cut made in August 2016, and indicated that further increases were likely in the coming years to keep inflation under control.

BoE set for hike, Fed to get new head, trillion-dollar Apple?

European Stock Markets

Traders were bracing on Thursday for landmark events including the Bank of England’s first rate hike since 2007 and the unveiling of a new Fed chief as well as results from Apple as it looks to become the world’s first $1 trillion company.

The British central bank is widely expected to announce a 25 basis point rise in interest rates from record lows at 1200 GMT, even though economic growth appears weaker than before any increase in borrowing costs in the past 20 years. 

With a hike largely priced in, sterling GBP= was barely changed against a marginally weaker dollar .DXY. 

European government bond yields inched up while stocks in the region edged back .FTEU3 after hitting two-year highs on Wednesday. [.EU] 

“The interesting thing about the BoE is the vote and the size of the majority, and secondly the context around that which we will get from the inflation report,” said JPMorgan Asset Management’s International CIO of fixed income Nick Gartside. 

The dollar meanwhile gave up some of the gains that have lifted it to a 3-1/2 month high this week. [/FRX] 

The Federal Reserve bolstered bets on a third U.S. rate hike of the year on Wednesday, but the focus is now on delayed tax cut plans due later and Donald Trump’s expected nomination of Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen to lead the central bank.