Caroline Hepker

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey was once again the swing voter in choosing to hold interest rates at 3.75%, having voted to cut at the last meeting in December.

Yesterday, four members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to cut rates, which was more than the two that economists were expecting.

Iran's foreign minister has confirmed that nuclear talks with the United States are scheduled to be held in Oman today.

Bloomberg's Ewan Potts has more.

That's news when you want it with Bloomberg News Now.

I'm Caroline Hepker.

And I'm Caroline Hepker.

Now, the price of silver has plunged by as much as 17% today after a two-day recovery.

Silver prices hit an all-time high in late January of more than $120 an ounce.

Since then, silver has lost more than a third of its value and is trading at around $79.

The precious metal rally last month was driven by speculative leveraged bets, geopolitical upheaval and also concerns over Fed independence.

Shell has announced results that fell short of expectations as slightly higher production was overshadowed by lower crude prices.

Europe's largest oil company reported adjusted fourth quarter net income of $3.26 billion.

That's down 11% from a year earlier and lower than the average analyst's estimates of $3.51 billion.

Shell maintained its quarterly share buyback at $3.5 billion.

Shares in Shell trading in London down 1.6% at the market open.

Now, the Bank of England is widely expected to leave interest rates on hold today as it waits for more evidence that inflation is under control.

This as we get more on that preview from Bloomberg's Ewan Potts.

And those are our top stories for you this morning.

Looking at the markets, European stocks are down a tenth of one percent.