The Bank of England’s MPC will be meeting and announcing their interest rates decision at 12 noon today.

The expectation is that they hold firm at 4.25 per cent, but there’s at least some case to be made for guidance on what comes next.

Oil prices rising and inflation sticking higher than expected are both reasons to keep the rate high – or even to raise it to 4.5 per cent again, in the eyes of some.

But slowing wage growth, unemployment rising and the economy all but flatlining are all key issues that the BoE must balance out as to when they can cut interest rates once more.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live business news coverage for Thursday.

As usual we’ll bring you all the stock market reaction to the day and the big lines from the world of UK plc and beyond.

Our primary focus leading toward lunchtime, however, is the Bank of England’s meeting on interest rates.