Economy

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 114,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 179,000 in June, the Labor said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by 175,000 jobs after a previously reported 206,000 gain in June. Hurricane Beryl, which knocked out power in Texas and slammed parts of Louisiana during the payrolls survey week, likely contributed to the below-expectations payrolls gain.Traders bet that the Federal Reserve will start easing policy in September with a big half-percentage-point interest rate cut, versus what was seen before the report as a 70% chance of a more usual quarter-point cut.MARKET REACTION:STOCKS: S&P 500 E-minis extended losses and were down 1.69%BONDS: The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes tumbled to 3.835%, the two-year note yield fell to 3.945% FOREX: The dollar index extended a loss to -0.7%COMMENTS: MARC OSTWALD, CHIEF ECONOMIST AND GLOBAL STRATEGIST, ADM INVESTOR SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, LONDON”It was a weak reading. There wasn’t really an impact from Hurricane Beryl. You had nice increases in manufacturing, construction and retail and indeed leisure and hospitality – all of which should have been hit if it had. So you can’t explain the weak reading with that. The unemployment rate rose, more due to migration than anything else because labor force participation increased, You’ve got two forces, one of labor demand easing, not falling off a cliff but definitely easing – and a larger labor force.””I wouldn’t say the Fed’s behind the curve – you can’t fine tune these things. But this essentially cements a rate cut in September, whatever we get from July CPI.””The last thing the stock market needs right now is another definitive signal that the economy is slowing. It’s good news for bonds and credit, but not for equities although there are some other factors going on there.” STUART COLE, CHIEF MACRO ECONOMIST, EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON”A soft number, which must leave a September cut from the Fed starting to look like a nailed-on certainty. A big miss on the headline number, a sizeable downwards revision to last month’s print, and a 2% rise in the rate of unemployment – it is no surprise that Powell has recently been highlighting concerns among some FOMC members about the dangers of delaying for too long a cut in interest rates, and then going too timidly thereafter.” “And what is potentially even more worrying for the Fed is that, whereas in the past a softer data would see equities rally on the expectation that inflation was coming down and interest rate cuts were on the horizon, the fact that equities have reacted negatively to today’s number suggests the thinking is that the Fed is already behind the curve and should have been cutting rates already. The two CPI reports to be released between now and the September Fed meeting probably now have to be pretty shocking if the Fed is going to defer cutting rates again.”MELISSA BROWN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, APPLIED RESEARCH, SIMCORP, NEW YORK”The top line number is a little shocking relative to expectations. It’s much lower than expected. But it’s a positive number. It’s not the lowest we’ve seen. The job gains could be low enough to trigger the Fed to act at the next meeting but they’re not so low that the signs are flashing recession.” “The unemployment number is higher than expected and higher than its been for a while. That’s a bit of a concern but it’s still relatively low.””There’s still a lot of data to come out between now and the next meeting. A 50 basis-point cut is possible but given the Fed’s caution, not that likely. It’ll really depend on the data over the next few weeks.””Hourly earnings was slightly below. What that means is the next inflation report will be quite important, where general inflation stands versus earnings gains,””To me it’s a little surprising the market is reacting so badly because at the same time the likelihood of a bigger rate cut has gone up and the market tends to like that.”WASIF LATIF, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, SARMAYA PARTNERS, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY“This is what a growth scare looks like. The market is now realizing that the economy is indeed slowing. Unemployment is an auto-correlation number. So once it starts moving in a certain direction, it generally continues to moving that direction for some successive data points. I think the market is also quickly realizing the Fed may have made a mistake by not cutting. Historically, the Fed has been that they have tended to wait longer and end up pushing the economy into a slower zone. Obviously, they’ve been data dependent. But now that the data’s out, they will probably do what they need to do in September. But September is a lifetime away right now for the market, which is panicking.”“You would expect bonds to rally in this environment because of the economic slowdown, the flight to quality etc. But you’re also seeing gold hitting all-time highs the because now we’re at a point where the market is pricing in greater Fed cuts and I think the gold price is saying that’s all well and good.”BRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ANNEX WEALTH MANAGEMENT, MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN“If Powell knew then what he knows now, he probably would have cut rates. By keeping rates on hold while inflation fell, they’ve applied too much pressure on the brakes. The decline in hours for the manufacturing work week is not a good sign for this being just a soft patch. The Fed can’t bank on economic momentum bailing them out from being too slow to recognize how quickly things are changing.” More

(Reuters) – Russia’s central bank has no room to lower rates from 18% this year, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, with analysts forecasting inflation above the bank’s 4% target in an overheating economy propelled by military production and consumer spending. Russia’s economic growth relies heavily on large-scale government spending on arms production as Moscow funds its war in Ukraine, contributing to soaring real wages in a tight labour market with unemployment at a record low. The consensus forecast of 14 analysts polled by Reuters in late July and early August suggested the Bank of Russia’s key rate would end the year at 18%, up from 17.75% in the previous poll. The central bank warned of economic overheating as it hiked rates to 18% last week, vowing to bring down stubborn inflation, currently running at about 9%. Mikhail Vasilyev, chief analyst at Sovcombank, was one of four economists expecting tighter monetary policy by year-end, predicting another hike, in September or October, to 20%. “We believe that the opportunity for a key rate cut will open up only in mid-2025, when inflation will steadily slow towards the 4% target,” Vasilyev said. Analysts forecast year-end inflation sharply higher at 6.9%, up from 6.4% in last month’s poll. That would follow annual inflation of 7.4% in 2023 and 11.9% in 2022.Expectations for Russia’s 2024 gross domestic product growth were also markedly raised to 3.6% from 3.1% in the previous poll, as Russian government and consumer spending remains strong. GDP grew 4.7% in the first half of the year, the economy ministry estimated this week. The rouble, currently buttressed by capital controls, state foreign currency interventions, high rouble interest rates and oil prices, is seen weakening to 96.1 to the dollar over the next year, slightly stronger than in the previous poll. (Reporting and polling by Alexander Marrow in London; Editing by Helen Popper) More

The decision will hinge on data between now and then. Among the key statistics the U.S. central bank is watching: EMPLOYMENT (Released Aug 2; next release Sept. 6):U.S. firms added an underwhelming 114,000 jobs in July, and revisions to the prior two months knocked 29,000 positions from the previously estimated number of payroll jobs. That pushed the three-month average total payroll growth down to 170,000, below the level typical before the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.3%, which could heighten fears that the labor market is deteriorating and potentially making the economy vulnerable to a recession.The number of people in a job or looking for work grew. Government data in late July showed the slowing of the labor market is being driven by low hiring, rather than layoffs, with hires dropping to a four-year low in June. Average hourly wages rose 3.6% in July compared to a year ago, versus a 3.8% annual increase in June. The Fed generally considers wage growth in the range of 3.0%-3.5% as consistent with its 2% inflation target. JOB OPENINGS (Released July 30; next release Sept. 4):In a sign of the job market’s continued resilience, the level of job openings remained above 8 million in June, while the number of open jobs available for each unemployed person fell slightly to 1.2, remaining roughly where it was in the years before the pandemic. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has kept a close eye on the U.S. Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for information on the imbalance between labor supply and demand, and the pandemic-era jump to more than 2 to 1 in the number of open jobs for each available worker was emblematic of the time. Things have cooled substantially. Other aspects of the survey, like the quits rate, now down to 2.1, have edged back to pre-pandemic levels in what Fed officials view as an emerging balance between the supply and demand for workers. While the hiring rate has slowed, for example, the layoff rate has remained stable in a sign of companies holding on to workers.INFLATION (PCE released July 26; next release CPI Aug. 14):The personal consumption expenditures price index, used by the Fed to set its 2% inflation target, shows inflation slowly subsiding. It fell in June to a 2.5% annual rate, from 2.6% in the prior month. Core PCE prices, stripped of volatile food and energy costs, remained unchanged in June at 2.6%. Despite that reading, the data looks set to help Fed officials build more confidence that inflation is moving toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% target. On a month-to-month basis, the PCE index rose 0.1% while core PCE prices edged up 0.2%. Officials have begun to pay closer attention to signs of weakening demand in the economy as a precursor to a slowed pace of price increases. The separate consumer price index fell in June by 0.1%, with drops in both volatile energy items and core consumer goods like vehicles, and weakness in housing costs that Fed officials have long been waiting to see. The 0.2% rise in shelter prices was the slowest since August of 2021, and overall it was the weakest CPI print since May of 2020.The data pushed the annual rise in consumer prices down to 3% from 3.3% in the prior month, with the more volatile core index, excluding food and energy, falling to 3.3% from 3.4%. More

LONDON (Reuters) – Global stocks dropped sharply on Friday with richly-valued tech firms taking much of the pain, as a U.S. jobs report flagging unexpected economic weakness struck fear in markets already rattled by downbeat earnings updates from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). With thin summer trading likely exaggerating moves, a slump that began in Asia with a 5.8% drop for Japan’s Nikkei, its biggest daily fall since March 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis, rippled through Europe and headed for Wall Street.MSCI’s global stock gauge dropped 0.8%, European shares fell 2%, the VIX stock market volatility measure, dubbed Wall Street’s fear gauge, hit its highest since April and money poured into government bonds. Friday’s sell-down followed a softer-than-expected U.S. factory activity survey and the monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report, which showed job growth slumped to 114,000 new hires in July from 179,000 in June. Futures trading implied the U.S. S&P 500 share index would soon open 1.8% lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 would fall to at least 10% below its recent peak, the accepted definition of a stock market correction.The U.S. Federal Reserve has kept benchmark borrowing costs at a 23-year high of 5.25%-5.50% for a year, and some analysts believe the world’s most influential central bank may have kept monetary policy tight for too long, risking a recession. “The historical experience is that turnarounds in the labour market can occur quickly and brutally and that relatively moderate increases in unemployment have been enough to trigger recessions in the United States,” SEB US economist Elisabet Kopelman said. TRIMMING BIG TECH POSITIONSMoney markets on Friday rushed to price a 70% chance of the Fed, which was already widely expected to cut rates from September, implementing a jumbo 50 basis points cut next month to insure against a downturn.”That does feel like we have jumped the gun,” Fidelity International fixed income manager Shamil Gohil said. He added, however, that “we will also be watching for a rise in the unemployment rate which will give us clues about a weaker labour market and as a potential recessionary signal.” Shares in U.S. chipmaker Intel tumbled more than 20% in pre-market trading on Friday after the group suspended its dividend and announced hefty job cuts alongside underwhelming earnings forecasts. Artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), one of the biggest contributors to the tech rally, dropped 4.1% pre-market and European tech stocks swooned 4.6% lower. Nvidia, up more than 700% since January 2023, has left many asset managers with an outsized exposure to the fortunes of this single stock. Steven Bell, chief economist for EMEA at asset manager Columbia Threadneedle, said that, while investors were trimming big tech positions to rebalance their portfolios, the U.S. economy was not about to contract. “Personally, I’m not thinking I should run for the hills,” he said. “This is a slowdown, not a recession. And the background of lower interest rates, lower inflation and real wages rising because inflation is falling faster than wage growth, all of that’s quite positive.” BUYING SAFE HAVENSSafe-haven buying went full throttle on Friday, however, with government debt, gold and currencies traditionally viewed as likely to hold value during market chaos all rallying.The 10-year Treasury yield collapsed by 16 bps to 3.796%, putting the benchmark debt security on track for its best weekly rally since March 2020. Bond yields fall as prices of the securities rise. The two-year yield, which typically reflects near-term interest rate expectations, dropped by a stunning 25 basis points to 3.9208%. The 10-year German bund yield, a benchmark for euro zone debt costs, hit its lowest since March 2023, at 2.201%. In foreign exchange markets, the yen added 0.2% to 149.04 per dollar to extend a rapid bounce back for the weakened currency, given some relief this week by the Bank of Japan raising interest rates to levels unseen in 15 years.Switzerland’s franc touched its highest since early February, at 0.08698 per dollar, before settling back slightly to 0.871.Sterling was on track for a 1% weekly drop against the dollar as traders speculated that the Bank of England would follow its first rate cut of this cycle on Thursday with another in November. Commodity markets broadly displayed global growth fears as gold added 1.3% to $2,473 an ounce and Brent crude oil dropped 1.4% $78.11 a barrel, headed for a fourth successive weekly loss. More

Job growth in the U.S. slowed much more than expected during July and the unemployment rate ticked higher, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by just 114,000 for the month, down from the downwardly revised 179,000 in June and below the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000. The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.3%, its highest since October 2021.

Average hourly earnings, a closely watched inflation barometer, increased 0.2% for the month and 3.6% from a year ago. Both figures were below respective forecasts for 0.3% and 3.7%.
Stock market futures added to losses following the report while Treasury yields plunged.
The labor market had been a pillar of economic strength but has recently shown some trouble signs, and the July payrolls increase was well below the average of 215,000 over the past 12 months.
“Temperatures might be hot around the country, but there’s no summer heatwave for the job market,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of the Manpower Group employment agency. “With across-the-board cooling, we have lost most of the gains we saw from the first quarter of the year.”
From a sector standpoint, health care again led in job creation, adding 55,000 to payrolls. Other notable gainers included construction (25,000), government (17,000) and transportation and warehousing (14,000). Leisure and hospitality, another leading gainer over the past few years, added 23,000.

The information services sector posted a loss of 20,000.
While the survey of establishments used for the headline payrolls number was discouraging, the household survey was even more so, with growth of just 67,000, while the ranks of the unemployed swelled by 352,000. The labor force also contracted by 214,000, though the participation rate as a share of the working-age population actually edged higher to 62.7%.

The report adds to mixed signals recently about the economy and with financial markets on edge about how the Federal Reserve will respond.
Though markets on Wednesday cheered indications from the Fed that an interest rate cut could come as soon as September, that quickly turned to trepidation when economic data Thursday showed an unexpected jump in filings for unemployment benefits and a further weakening of the manufacturing sector.
That triggered the worst sell-off of the year on Wall Street and renewed fears that the Fed may be waiting too long to start cutting interest rates. Easing wage gains could help policymakers feel more confident that inflation is progressing back to their 2% goal.

The rise in the unemployment rate brings into play the so-called Sahm Rule, which states that the economy is in recession when the three-month average of the jobless level is half a percentage point higher than the 12-month low. In this case, the unemployment rate was 3.5% in July 2023 before it began its gradual ascent. The three-month unemployment rate average moved up to 4.13%.
“The latest snapshot of the labor market is consistent with a slowdown, not necessarily a recession,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. “However, early warning signs suggest further weakness.”
Roach pointed out that the ranks of those working part-time for economic reasons jumped to 4.57 million, an increase of 346,000 to the highest level since June 2021.
An alternate measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons surged 0.4 percentage point to 7.8%, the highest since October 2021.
Long-term unemployment also ticked higher. Those reporting being out of work for 27 weeks or more totaled 1.54 million, the most since February 2022.
Wall Street had been bracing for modest gains from the July payrolls report, in part over concerns about growth but also from residual impacts from Hurricane Beryl. The storm badly damaged parts of Texas including the Houston metropolitan area. 
Despite some anxiety over the state of economic growth, Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday expressed confidence about the “solid” economy and said easing inflation data is raising confidence that the central bank can cut soon. 
Markets have fully priced in a rate cut of at least a quarter percentage point at each of the three remaining Fed meetings this year. Odds are rising that the Fed even may go beyond traditional quarter point reductions.
“While the labor market has remained remarkably resilient over these past two years of elevated interest rates, it’s important for the Federal Reserve to stay ahead of any further labor market slowing by proceeding with its expected September rate cut,” said Clark Bellin, chief investment officer at Bellwether Wealth. More

Here is a snapshot of job cuts announced so far this year: TECHNOLOGY* Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s job cuts include less than 5% of employees at Buy with Prime unit, 5% at audiobook and podcast division Audible, several hundred in streaming and studio operations, 35% at streaming unit Twitch, a few hundred at healthcare units One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. It also announced layoffs at Amazon Web Services (AWS) impacting several hundred roles in sales, marketing, and global services and a few hundred roles in the physical stores technology team. * Layoffs at Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) include dozens at the division for developing new technology X Lab, hundreds in the advertising sales team, hundreds across teams, including the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit (NYSE:FIT), and a majority in the augmented reality team.* Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is cutting around 1,900 jobs at gaming divisions Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Xbox.* IBM (NYSE:IBM) plans to lay off some employees in 2024 but will hire more for AI-centered roles.* Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) said it would cut more than 15% of its workforce, some 17,500 people, as the chipmaker pursues a turnaround focused on its money-losing manufacturing business.* E-commerce firm eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) plans to cut about 1,000 roles or around 9% of its workforce.* Videogame software provider Unity Software to cut about 25% of workforce, or 1,800 jobs.* DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) plans to reduce its workforce by about 6%, or 400 employees, with a majority in its sales and marketing organizations.* Snap plans to cut around 528 jobs or 10% of its global workforce.* Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) is laying off about 700 employees, or roughly 1% of its global workforce.* Network giant Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) is planning to restructure its business which will include laying off thousands of employees.* Autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora Innovation lays off 3% of workforce.* Canada’s BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) plans more layoffs, in addition to about 200 job cuts in the prior quarter. * Satellite radio company SiriusXM plans to reduce workforce by about 3%, or about 160 roles.* Bumble is set to eliminate 350 jobs or about 30% of its workforce.AUTOMAKERS* Electric automaker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday shows, as it grapples with falling sales amid an intensifying price war for electric vehicles.* EV maker Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) said it would reduce its workforce by 6%, or around 400 employees, the electric vehicle industry grapples with slower growth.MEDIA* Pixar Animation Studios, producer of classic films such as “Toy Story” and “Up,” began laying off about 14% of its workforce as it scales back development of original streaming series. About 175 people will be affected by job cuts at the Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co unit.* Comcast-owned British media group Sky plans to cut about 1,000 jobs across its businesses this year.* The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off 94 journalists.* Paramount Global is planning to conduct an unspecified number of layoffs.* Business Insider plans to lay off around 8% of its staff. * Bell Canada plans to slash 4,800 jobs. FINANCIAL SERVICES* PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Holdings is planning to cut about 2,500 jobs, or 9% of its global workforce this year. * Payments firm Block Inc has started to cut unspecified jobs.* Citigroup is planning to reduce its headcount by 20,000 people over the next two years. It has announced plans to slash 716 roles in New York towards that target.* Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in its wealth management unit, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the cuts will impact less than 1% of the division’s employees. * Exchange operator Nasdaq plans to slash hundreds of jobs as it integrates fintech firm Adenza into its business. * Asset manager BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) is set to cut about 3% of its workforce but expects a larger headcount by the end of 2024.CONSUMER AND RETAIL* The world’s largest retailer, Walmart (NYSE:WMT), plans to cut hundreds of jobs at its corporate headquarters and relocate a majority of its U.S. and Canada-based remote workforce to three offices.* Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) plans to cut 3% to 5% of its global workforce.* Wayfair (NYSE:W) plans to lay off 1,650 employees, or about 13% of its workforce.* U.S. department store chain Macy’s (NYSE:M) is cutting 2,350 jobs, closing five stores.* Levi Strauss & Co (NYSE:LEVI) is planning to slash 10%-15% of global corporate jobs.* Hershey’s restructuring plan will impact less than 5% of its workforce. * Nike (NYSE:NKE) will cut about 2% of its total workforce, or more than 1,600 jobs, as the sportswear giant looks to cut costs after flagging weaker profits this year. The company’s footwear brand, Converse, will also cut jobs as part of Nike’s on-going $2 billion cost savings plan.HEALTH * Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) is cutting about 12% of workforce.* Consumer health firm Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) will cut 4% of its global workforce. MANUFACTURING* Defense contractor Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is planning to cut 1% of its jobs. * Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) is laying off several hundred members of its workforce in Wichita, Kan., according to an internal memo, as the company deals with high debt and slowed production at Boeing (NYSE:BA), its key customer.* U.S. defense contractor L3Harris cut 5% of its workforce in April in a bid to streamline its business and save costs.LOGISTICS* United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) plans to cut 12,000 jobs to cut costs. * FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is planning to cut between 1,700 and 2,000 back-office jobs in Europe, as the parcel delivery company struggles with weak freight demand.NATURAL RESOURCES* U.S. natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) is laying off employees after completing the divestiture of its oil assets last year.* U.S. miner Piedmont Lithium cuts 27% of workforce in the cost-cutting plan. * Canadian oil and gas pipeline firm TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) has laid off some of its workers as part of a previously announced plan to integrate its natural gas pipeline units.* Canada-based crude pipeline operator Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) said it would reduce its workforce by 650 jobs, or 5%, in a bid to cut costs. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Brad Smith, a veteran U.S. Treasury Department employee, will be acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, a U.S. Treasury Department spokesperson told Reuters, taking up the role overseeing the department’s sanctions policy, one of Washington’s go-to foreign policy tools.WHY IT’S IMPORTANTSmith’s appointment comes as the U.S. seeks to increase pressure on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and maintains heavy punitive measures against countries such as Iran.Reuters first reported Smith would assume the role.CONTEXTSmith will take over the position in an acting capacity following the departure of Brian Nelson on Friday, the spokesperson said. Sources confirmed Nelson was leaving to work on the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. Smith’s focus will be on continuing to degrade Russia’s ability to wage war in Ukraine, the spokesperson said, as well as cutting off financing to Iran and its proxies, combating the illicit flow of fentanyl into the U.S. and implementing regulatory efforts.Smith was appointed director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2023. He previously served as the office’s deputy director and chief counsel. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, Smith has worked on Washington’s imposition of thousands of sanctions targeting Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, which has included designations of Russian banks, oligarchs, President Vladimir Putin and companies in China, Turkey and elsewhere.The Biden administration has also ramped up counter-narcotics measures and sought to modernize the use of the sanctions tool.During the previous administration of President Donald Trump, the office issued extensive measures against Iran and Venezuela, among others. More

“I think we can’t be complacent, we can’t declare ‘job done’ because there are some sort of dynamics in the UK economy, a sort of persistent component, that we need to be cautious about,” Pill told an online presentation organised by the BoE.”I think we shouldn’t be yet promising that rates are going to move down further in the very short term,” he said.Pill voted against the BoE’s decision to cut borrowing costs for the first time in more than four years which was announced on Thursday.BoE Governor Andrew Bailey, who was part of the five-strong majority on the Monetary Policy Committee which backed the cut in Bank Rate, has also said the timing of further reductions in borrowing costs remains to be determined.Investors are fully pricing another quarter-point reduction in Bank Rate – which now stands at 5.0% – in November.Inflation in Britain has fallen from more than 11% in October 2022 to 2% in the most recent data, but wage growth and inflation in the services sector remain stronger, representing risks for price growth ahead.In his comments on Friday, Pill said progress on tackling inflation was being made but Britain was “not out of the woods.”He also said he did not believe above-inflation increases in public sector pay announced by the government posed a big inflationary risk. More