Christine Lagarde didn’t disappoint the doves on the ECB when she gave the strongest hint possible that there will be a cut in interest rates for the Eurozone in June. This marks a change from Fed dependence to divergence by the ECB and of course comes with risks. After another stronger than expected CPI number in the States, the tenth in a row, expectations on the start of the Fed rate cutting cycle moved further out in the year and the predicted number of cuts continued to fall.

The phrase more questions than answers rather neatly sums up the current financial markets, with US data being the fulcrum of the conundrum. As if to underscore the issue, Jolts were subtly disappointing, as one analyst said, whilst last Friday's Non-Farm Payrolls beat all expectations. Fed officials are equally contradictory, but less and later, with regard to interest rate cuts, it seems to be the overriding message.

The plethora of central bank meetings last week at least delivered one cut in interest rates. The Swiss National Bank was the surprise outlier as it edged its rates lower by .25%, the first central bank to do so. It possibly jumped the gun as it holds quarterly meetings, and if it hadn’t moved now, it would have had to wait until June, which they perceived as being too long and now its odds on another cut then.