The One-Year fixed rate and Spanish Two-Year Fixed Rate were pulled off the launch pad today. Alison Rolls, head of communications, N&P said the move was made as a reaction to the “downwards movement in the money markets.”
Stephen Penlington, mortgage general manager, Norwich & Peterborough said: “We have never retracted a product in the run up period like this before, but the money market movements have been quite dramatic over the last few days - a move of 0.2 – 0.3 per cent - unlike the usual slow trending up or down.
The stock market upheavals and accounting irregularities have done much to change sentiment toward lower interest rates,” he said.
Interest rates remain unlikely to change however, said Phillip Saunders, global strategist at Investec Bank.
“If there’s more stock market mayhem, which we doubt, it’s highly likely the banks will remain on hold for the next couple of months at least. However, in the longer term, the markets are expecting a rate rise toward the end of the year.”
