The Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. Although the record number of new crown infections poses a threat to the economy, the country still takes the lead in the world to fight the surge in inflation. Bank of England officials headed by Central Bank Governor Andrew Bailey decided to raise interest rates by 15 basis points to 0.25% with an 8-1 vote, thus becoming the first G7 country to raise interest rates since the epidemic. Silvana Tenreyro was the only official to vote against. Central bank policymakers said that as the inflation rate rises further and may reach a peak of around 6% in April, further “moderate” tightening of policies may be required.

The European Central Bank will expand the scale of its regular monthly bond purchase operations for half a year, thereby stabilizing the process of withdrawing the emergency bond purchase plan against the epidemic; President Lagarde’s forecasts show that the economy rebounds strongly and inflation is expected to accelerate. In its statement, the European Central Bank acknowledged the continued threat posed by the omicron variant, and promised to temporarily double the size of the asset purchase program to mitigate the impact of the end of the 1.85 trillion euro emergency bond purchase program in March next year, and avoid what Lagarde said The "rapid transition." Officials also adjusted the emergency bond purchase plan to cope with the possible turbulence in the market in the future.

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time in the United States increased last week, but as the labor market continues to recover, the number of applications is still close to the lowest level since the outbreak. Data released by the US Department of Labor on Thursday showed that in the week ending December 11, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits for the first time increased by 18,000 from the previous week to 206,000. Bloomberg surveyed the expected median value of 200,000. As of the week ending December 4, the number of continuous applications for unemployment benefits fell to 1.85 million, a record low since the outbreak of the epidemic.

The steady growth of US industrial output in November indicates that manufacturing output has risen while some supply constraints have eased. Data released by the Federal Reserve on Thursday showed that manufacturing output increased by 0.7% in November, which was revised up to 1.4% in October. Including mining and utilities, overall industrial output increased by 0.5% in November. Economists estimated from the survey that the median value of manufacturing output increased by 0.7% month-on-month, and overall industrial output increased by 0.6%. The Fed said that the increase in manufacturing output is very common.

The Democrats in the Senate abandoned their plan to pass President Biden's $2 trillion economic agenda this year, causing the White House to suffer a political blow. The postponement was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter. As a result, disagreements within the Democrats over the spending bill may intensify, and many Democrats regard the bill as the key to the 2022 midterm elections.

As the rise in new crown cases has damaged the service industry and offset the improvement in manufacturing output, economic activity in the euro zone has slowed. Inflationary pressures eased slightly. According to the purchasing managers survey released by IHS Markit on Thursday, the comprehensive PMI covering the service and manufacturing industries fell to 53.4 from 55.4 in November. Service sector activity recorded the weakest increase since April, and people have avoided tourism and other leisure and entertainment industries. Later on Thursday, the European Central Bank will decide how to withdraw billions of euros of anti-epidemic stimulus measures, while ensuring that the economy can continue the pace of recovery without being affected by a new round of the epidemic.

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