As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (Fed) kept official rates at their current levels when it met on 10 March. Despite inflationary pressure building, the Fed lowered its projections for the pace of future rate hikes given ongoing concerns about the global economy...

According to Mitul Patel, Head of Interest Rates, Henderson Global Investors, The European Central Bank (ECB) have very much taken the ‘kitchen sink' approach, surprising market expectations in a variety of ways...

According to Keith Wade, Economist and Head of strategy at Schroders, Mario Draghi succeeded in surprising markets with his latest salvo, but needs the support of governments and fiscal policy to win this fight.

In today's policy meeting and press conference the ECB took decisive action to loosen monetary policy. Although expectations were high, Draghi managed to exceed them by including a couple of measures that were not widely expected. As a result, financial markets reacted very favorably to the news.

The first few days of the year were particularly challenging for capital markets. Further incertitude regarding the strength of the US cycle and the possibility that the Chinese economy is weathering a heavy depression drove risky assets lower, bucking the traditional early-year trend.