Christopher Dodd, the chairman of the Senate banking committee, was yesterday at pains to emphasise that he was not applying "political pressure" on the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

But at the end of an unusual 45-minute meeting with Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Fed, and Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, Mr Dodd made it clear he expected that a cut in the federal funds rate - the most basic tool of monetary policy - would follow from the Fed's 25 basis-point cut in the discount rate last Friday.