Minutes of the MPC’s September meeting highlighted rising unemployment, weak domestic demand, banks’ balance sheets, weak bank lending, high levels of public debt and global imbalances as factors which threaten recovery. “There had been some promising indications from asset markets,” the MPC noted in the minutes, “but the lesson from previous financial crises was that they were not resolved quickly, and that there could be false dawns.” The committee voted 9-0 in favour of leaving interest rates on hold at 0.5pc and its quantitative easing (QE) target unchanged at ?175bn. Sterling rose against both the euro and the dollar after the minutes were published. The unanimous vote was in contrast to the September meeting of the MPC, when Mervyn King, the governor, along with two other colleagues voted in favour of extending QE by ?75bn to ?200bn. They were outvoted by a majority of six who preferred a smaller ?50bn extension to ?175bn. “For those members who had preferred a larger stimulus at the August meeting, a larger asset purchase programme could still be justified. But in the absence of significant news about the medium term the case for adjusting the programme now was outweighed by the benefits of following through with the programme of asset purchases announced in August,” the September minutes said.