BOE voted 8-1 in favor of forward guidance as U.K. unemployment stuck at 7.8%.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 in favor of adopting forward guidance, which includes a proposal not to raise interest rates from 0.5% until unemployment has dropped to 7% from 7.8% currently, subject to conditions related to inflation and financial stability. Some policy members believe there is a "compelling" case to restart bond purchases, although they held off calling for more QE in order to assess the effect of forward guidance.

As expected, U.K. unemployment held steady at 7.8% in April-June, the same rate as in January-March. The number of unemployed fell 4,000 to 2.51M. With the needle not moving despite GDP growth of 0.6% in Q2, BOE interest rates may well be staying at 0.5% for a while to come.