Pound weakens as BoE Governor points towards further easing

The Bank of England might have to ease its policy settings over the summer, Governor Mark Carney said.

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Mark Carney added that Brexit constituted a major "regime change" but that the UK would recover.

The BoE would not hesitate to meet its responsibilities although uncertainty would remain high, he said.

A "material" slowing in the economy continued to be the BoE´s central forecast, he added.

As of 16:33 BST the pound was 1.06% lower versus the US dollar at 1.3286.

"While the future direction of policy now is clear, the degree of easing is far from certain. Mark Carney’s speech is littered, as usual, with caveats. He emphasised that the full implications of the referendum for the economy are not clear, and reiterated that “monetary policy cannot immediately or fully offset the economic implications of a large, negative shock”.

"The Governor has not pre-committed to substantial easing, and he is not dubbed the ‘unreliable boyfriend’ for no reason. The Governor repeatedly has signalled that interest rate rises would be six to nine months away, only to back-track later on," said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.