Traders and economists are convinced that the Bank of England will increase interest rates in December for the first time since the pandemic began, but students of the central bank’s history may harbor more doubts. The BOE has only hiked rates once in December in the past 45 years, and it’s much less likely to move outside months when it also delivers forecasts and a press conference where it can explain the decision to the public. The next one of those is in February. Christmas is little more than a week away from the Dec. 16 rate decision, and policy makers led by Governor Andrew Bailey have been pointing out ... (full story)