The pound is slipping after the Mark Carney held rates for a record 83rd month

Ice skater fall

Reuters/Kim Hyung hoon

The pound is in the red on Thursday afternoon after of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney's held interest rates for a record 83rd month, and quietly sounded the alarm over inflation in the UK.

The Bank announced its decision at 12:00 p.m. GMT (7:00 a.m. ET), with virtually no one expecting Carney and his Monetary Policy Committee to decide anything other than to leave interest rates untouched at 0.5%, where they've stayed for more than six and a half years. 

Expectations of when a rate hike will happen are getting further and further into the future, with some even predicting a cut before we get a rate rise.

As a result, the Britain's currency shrunk prior to the announcement. Fifteen minutes before Carney's announcement, the pound was down by 0.1% against the US dollar, while the euro was up 0.6% on the pound. Since then, it has stayed lower, although hasn't moved too significantly.

Here's how the Euro/Pound trade looks at 3:00 p.m. GMT (10:00a.m. ET):

Screen Shot 2016 02 04 at 15.02.25

Reuters/Kim Hyung hoon

Speaking about the decision, Ben Brettell, a senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown said: ‘The prospect of an interest rate rise continues to recede into the distance. Today’s vote to leave rates on hold wasn’t surprising in the slightest, but the fact that even arch-hawk Ian McCafferty backed down and voted for no change sends a clear indication that interest rates are going nowhere fast.

Elsewhere in the markets, European equities are a mixed bag after rallying this morning , thanks largely to a day of positive trade in Asia, and an overnight increase in the price of oil. The FTSE100 is up by around 0.6% and Spain's IBEX is 0.73% in the green, but most other indexes are trading at a small loss.

Oil had a quiet morning, but has surged again this afternoon. At 3:00 p.m. GMT (10:00 a.m. ET) Brent is up around 1.75% to $35.65, while West Texas Intermediate is up more than 3% to $33.30 per barrel.

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SEE ALSO: Carney is being 'too aggressive' on interest rate hike threats and is 'confusing the markets'