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mpc: 2 Short-term and long-term interest rates had moved up in the United States in the latest month. The rise in short rates reflected market perceptions that monetary policy would begin to tighten sooner than previously expected, following some stronger recent economic data, comments by monetary officials, and the statement issued following the May meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC). The smaller rise in longer-term forward rates reflected an increase in forward real rates. Interest rate movements in the euro area and the United Kingdom had been small. The current pattern of short-term rates suggested that the chance that the next change in the ECB's repo rate would be a reduction was believed to be less than in April. A 25 basis point rise in the UK repo rate at the Committee's May meeting was fully anticipated in financial markets; respondents to the latest Reuters survey of economists had almost unanimously expected a rise.