BoE's Fisher says forward guidance may smooth stimulus exit

LONDON | Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:27pm BST
(Reuters) - Giving markets clearer guidance about when interest rates will rise may help the Bank of England steer a smoother exit from exceptional stimulus measures, a top policymaker said on Tuesday.

However, Paul Fisher, one of the most dovish members of the Bank's nine-member Monetary Policy Committee, said an exit might be several years away and the current debate was about whether or not to give more help to the economy.

"I should say that all the discussions that we're having at the moment are more about whether we should be giving forward guidance and using thresholds, whether we should be giving more stimulus, rather than discussing what the exit strategy will be," Fisher told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

USD TIC Long-Term Purchases -27.2B 14.3B -21.8B

USD Capacity Utilization Rate 77.8% 77.8% 77.6%

USD Industrial Production m/m 0.3% 0.2% 0.0%

USD NAHB Housing Market Index 57 51 51

FTSE100 ends session lower, suffering broad-based losses