Wednesday 8 May 2024 22:08 , Simon Hunt Good morning from the Standard City desk. City market-implied odds of the Bank of England cutting in interest rates by August are roughly the same as those from the bookies for Manchester City winning the Premier League. Meanwhile the chances of rates staying on hold through to September are on a par with those of Arsenal landing the title. Given that Pep Guardiola’s men are only a stumble away from handing the honours to the Gunners, that feels like an unexpectedly high possibility of no summer moves from the Bank of England. By the time the MPC make their decision on 20 June it will have before it two more sets of inflation data, including the crucial April figures. That was the month when the energy cap fell 12% and the Consumer Prices Index is widely thought to have dropped back below the 2% target for the first time since July 2021. We’ll soon find out if it did. There will be statistical meat for the hawks to gnaw on as well, notably the inflationary impact of a near 10% rise in the minimum wage. Perhaps more significant still is the fairly...