Doubts creep in over how quickly and how far ECB will cut rates

President of European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde did little last week to dampen market bets for a first rate cut in June.

Doubts about the path of future interest rate cuts are creeping into the thoughts of financial markets as two large bank forecasters predict the European Central Bank will be reluctant to move too quickly this year should its US counterpart be spooked by stubbornly high inflation. 

The ECB president Christine Lagarde did little at a key meeting of the bank in Frankfurt last week to dispel market bets that a first rate was coming in June. However, since then, figures showing stubbornly high levels of inflation in the US are seen weighing on decision-making at the US Federal Reserve, and in turn, are likely to influence the ECB on its path for future rate cuts beyond the June meeting, some economists have said.