Bank of England: no change on rate, stimulus

Bank of England makes no change on base rate, quantitative easing

LONDON (AP) -- The Bank of England has left its base interest rate unchanged and has not authorized any additional stimulus measures.

Thursday's announcement by the Monetary Policy Committee left the bank's key rate at an all-time low of 0.5 percent, where it has been since March 2009.

The Bank's program of quantitative easing — stimulus through buying government bonds and other high-quality debt — remains at a total of 375 billion pounds ($598 billion).

Expectations of further stimulus measures this month evaporated after the U.K.'s gross domestic product rose by an unexpectedly strong 1 percent in the third quarter, ending a nine-month recession.