El banco central británico decidirá este jueves si realiza cambios en su política monetaria
European stock markets are poised to react to the Fed's decision, which on Wednesday decided to keep interest rates stable in the range of 0.5-0.75%. Ibex quotes flat in the area of 9,300 points.
In a week full of business results, central banks are also playing a leading role. Following the Bank of Japan's decision to keep interest rates at -0.1%, there were no surprises in the United States. The Fed followed the established plan and did not succumb to the pressure of higher inflation expectations.
In the United Kingdom, the Bank of England prepares to publish its decisions on monetary policy at 13:00 in Madrid, where everything is expected to remain the same. Since the British central bank decided to lower interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% in August, there have been no substantial changes in its monetary policy and the markets hope that this will continue for the moment.
The UK Parliament gave Brexit a "free way" on Wednesday in the first vote to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The Scottish National Party and the Liberal-Democrat leadership opposed the bill, while several Labor MPs and former Chancellor Ken Clarke rebelled.
As for the business results of Spain, this morning has presented Caixabank results. The Catalan bank has posted 28.6% more in the last year than in 2015 and reaches the figure of 1,047 million euros of net profit.
On the macroeconomic level, on Thursday there have been data on changes in the number of unemployed in Spain. The number of unemployed registered in the offices of public employment services (former Inem) rose in January in 57,257 unemployed compared to the previous month (+ 1.5%), its second smallest increase in a month of January since 2004, according to Informed on Thursday the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.