One step closer to the rate cut cycle

The week was marked by several dovish signals from central banks. First, the Fed seemed confident at its meeting this week, confirming that inflation was slowing despite the resilience of the US economy, and maintained its rate projections (dot plot) at -75bp. The members of the ECB’s governing council confirmed their intention of starting to cut rates in June. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) surprised the market by initiating its rate cut cycle. The BoE indicated that it was leaning towards easing (none of its members voted in favour of a rate hike), while reiterating that it was not yet ready to cut rates. Lastly, the BoJ, which ended its negative rate policy, had prepared the market fairly well for this shift.