ECB cuts interest rates to 0.5%

In a widely-expected move it cut the main interest rate to 0.50% from 0.75%, the first cut it has made for ten months. In a surprise move, it also cut the interest rate on the marginal lending facility by 50bps to 1%, as it sought to combat the economic malaise gripping Europe. The cuts come after data released earlier today showing manufacturing activity across the 17-nation bloc shrank in April. In Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, manufacturing contracted for the second month running. The data - which will have been seen by eurozone officials prior to the monetary poli...