Merryn Talks Money Markets Weekly: Inflation Falls, Wage Growth Cools, and Bets on BOE Cuts
Feb 20, 2026
Morwenna Coniam, Bloomberg Markets Today reporter covering inflation and labour data, and Marcus Ashworth, Bloomberg Opinion columnist on monetary policy, discuss this week’s fall in CPI and cooling wage growth. They talk market pricing of earlier BOE cuts, rising youth unemployment and hiring oddities. They also cover housing and rent trends, FTSE themes and Nuveen’s takeover of Schroders.
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Disinflation Is Driving Rate-Cut Bets
- UK inflation and wage growth are clearly disinflating, reinforcing market bets on imminent Bank of England cuts.
- Markets priced a March/April cut after wage growth slowed and CPI printed in line with expectations.
BOE Likely To Begin Cutting Soon
- Marcus Ashworth thinks the Bank of England missed an opportunity to cut earlier and will likely start cutting from March.
- He expects multiple cuts through mid-year, driven by weaker wage and inflation data.
Rising Youth Unemployment Is A Structural Alarm
- Youth unemployment in the UK has risen sharply and now exceeds the EU average, spotlighting structural labour-market issues.
- Marcus and Morwenna link policy choices—minimum wage harmonisation and employer costs—to reduced hiring for young workers.