ECB slashes rates to all-time low

Most economists expected a larger cut of 0.5% bring interest rates to 1%, rather than the actual 0.25% reduction, according to the BBC. Since October 2008, when the key rate stood at 4.25%, the ECB has lowered it six times in a bid to boost economic activity. The unemployment rate in the eurozone rose to 8.5% in February, reaching its highest level in nearly three years. Analysts hoping for a larger cut were disappointed. "It doesn't make much of a change in the sense that rates are already very low," says Philippe Gijsels, strategist at Fortis in Brussels. "But it sends the signal th...