Today’s UK interest rate rise unlikely to be the last unless Iran war ends; Wall Street slides on AI fears – business live

Andrew Bailey then hints that the Bank could well raise interest rates again, following today’s hike to 4%, unless the Iran war ends.

He tells reporters in London:

Today’s increase should not be seen as the first in an inevitable long sequence of hikes. That is not inevitable. But unless the conflict in the Middle East is resolved, neither does it seem likely to be the last increase.

Wall Street’s ‘fear index’, the VIX, has jumped by 40% to its highest levels since the early weeks of the Iran war, in a sign of rising market volatility.

The slump on Wall Street has rippled across to the London stock market too.