Last week’s shock cut in UK interest rates to 3 per cent, the lowest level for more than half a century, has led investors to question whether the European Central Bank will now be persuaded to follow the Bank of England’s example in loosening monetary policy decisively in the face of a looming economic recession.

The ECB reduced eurozone interest rates by half a point to 3.25 per cent last Thursday but this has led to criticism from some analysts. “The ECB missed the opportunity to take some insurance against what we believe are the increasing risks of a significantly worse macro-economic outcome for the eurozone,” says Jacques Cailloux, economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.