Rate hikes taken off the agenda for central banks

Central banks continue to surprise with their aggressive actions to counteract global forces that are threatening the recovery in the world economy and that are risking a prolonged period of very low, or even negative, inflation.

Two weeks ago, markets rebounded on strong signals from the ECB that it would loosen monetary policy again.

Then, last week, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) unexpectedly eased policy, moving one of its key interest rates into negative territory for the first time.