Investors Fear BOE Has Let Down Guard Against Virus Too Soon

The Bank of England’s surprisingly restrained tone on the economy hasn’t gone down well with investors, who worry that it may have tightened policy just as a number of political and economic risks converge.

Both the pound and U.K. government bonds sold off after the central bank said Thursday it would slow the pace of its asset purchases, despite a 100-billion-pound ($124 billion) boost to the size of the program. With the BOE aiming to complete the program later this year, its weekly bond buying will likely be about half its current 13.5 billion-pound binge, making it the only major central bank to scale back the speed of quantitative easing.