Pessimism about the prospects for US interest rates cuts has been growing steadily as 2024 has developed. But there was a big change last Friday.

Global stock markets had a challenging week due to continued uncertainty around the timing of interest rate cuts in the United States, as well as mixed corporate earnings figures.

It has been a busy week of news flow, much of which has reinforced the current narrative around the path for monetary policy, with interest rates set to stay on hold for an extended period.