The European Central Bank’s inactivity is looking masterly. Since September the Federal Reserve has cut rates by 250 basis points to 2.25 per cent. Defying expectations that it would eventually follow the Fed down, the ECB has stuck with policy rates at 4 per cent. On Thursday it signalled that no easing was imminent – bringing to a halt the euro’s recent slide. Across the Channel, the Bank of England also chose to hold rates, at 5 per cent.

The ECB was the first of any big central bank to start injecting extra cash into the banking sector, but it cannot be accused of panicking about the impact of credit market troubles on the real economy. This stance has, so far, been vindicated. As ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet noted, eurozone fundamentals remain “sound”, and point to “moderate but ongoing real growth”. As in the US and UK, euro interbank lending rates remain high. But the ECB is very reluctant to use policy rates as a tool to help banks and financial markets. So far this has paid off too. Mr Trichet concluded “that the availability of bank credit to euro area firms...has not been significantly impaired by the financial turmoil”.