The pound continued its one-month surge against the US dollar today after signals from the Bank of England indicated that no more cash will be injected into the economy before the spring. Sterling ticked up half a cent from $1.625 to $1.630 after minutes from the Bank's monetary policy committee showed the policymakers voting 8-1 against more quantitative easing this month, just as they did the month previously. The pound has climbed steadily against the US currency since November 15 when it sat at $1.584. Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2250543/Pound-continues-surge-dollar-MPC-puts-QE-hold.html#ixzz2FVb0eZPu Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on FacebookDavid Miles was again the only MPC member to support another expansion of the QE programme, arguing that there was enough slack in the economy to boost output without risking higher inflation. This month's widely expected decision to hold the base rate and QE came soon after October inflation had spiked to 2.7 per cent. November inflation yesterday came in stubbornly at the same level, leading some analysts to predict that the MPC will hold off on more QE until May. Ross Walker at RBS said, 'It's very hard to see anything before February and more likely before May. 'It's not as if they're not doing anything - there is that outstanding stock of gilt purchases and the FLS anecdotally seems to be working on some front. 'Barring any big shocks, it feels like we're probably not going to get, for example, further QE in the first half of next year.' The MPC's prognosis for the UK economy in the December minutes was downbeat but unchanged. 'Most members agreed that developments on the month had done little to alter the balance of arguments between maintaining and increasing the size of the monetary stimulus,' the minutes said. The MPC added that inflation was likely to remain above its 2 per cent target for the next year or so, though food prices could be driven up by bad weather disrupting planting. Economic output was likely to be broadly flat in the near term, but there would probably be a contraction in the fourth quarter. Last week MPC member Paul Fisher said he would wait for signs that inflation was coming down before voting to extend QE, though he added that more QE would probably be needed. And chief economist Spencer Dale has warned that inflation was unlikely to fall back to the central bank's 2 per cent target for some time, and the Bank's own forecasts do not see inflation below that until the third quarter of 2014. Neville Hill of Credit Suisse said, 'Perhaps the only interesting point is that they seem unhappy with the level of [the pound] at the moment, saying that the lack of competitiveness in the last couple of years was a headwind to UK exporters.'

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