Financial Times – Global sell-off as UK and Eurozone warning signs dash rate cut hopes 

The Financial Times says stocks and bonds dipped in value on Wednesday as investors lost confidence in expectations of swift interest rate cuts in Europe, the US and UK.

The paper says markets had been “pricing in rate cuts as soon as the spring”, but that Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, has signalled that they will not fall as soon as many had hoped. The sell-off also followed new data showing that UK inflation had risen for the first time in 10 months. Ms Lagarde is quoted saying that, “short of another major shock, we have reached a peak” in interest rates, but that “we have to stay restrictive for as long as necessary”.