The Bank of England surprises investors by raising interest rates

has sprung its second surprise in as many months. In November it failed to raise interest rates after it had steered markets to expect an increase. On December 16th it did raise rates after all, surprising investors—despite the most obvious change in the economic outlook being a . The bank’s monetary-policy committee voted by a margin of eight to one to raise interest rates from 0.1% to 0.25%. That makes Britain the first big rich economy to experience interest-rate rises since the pandemic struck. A defence of the Bank of England’s toing-and-froing would start with the argument that now is an exceptionally tricky time to be doing its job. The global economy has been battered by a series of unusual shocks. With the state of the economy so uncertain, investors should not expect clear predictions about the path of policy. Indeed, the minutes of the bank’s meeting said that the decision was “finely balanced”.