And sure enough, moments ago the Bank of England - in its second emergency move of the Global Covid Crisis - joined the overnight parade of similarly panicking RBA, ECB, BOJ and Fed, when it announced that as part of its covid-19 response it would cut rates to 0.1% from 0.25% in a unanimous emergency move, and boost QE, increasing its holdings of UK government bonds and sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bonds by £200 billion to a total of £645 billion.

As FX strategist Viraj Patel notes, the "BoE previously saw QE as a credit-easing measure too at times of market stress. So makes sense. BoE have now laid their cards on the table. Not a lot left in the monetary tank"

Perhaps in this context, it is not that strange that this announcement had virtually no effect on either the GBP, which remains depressed after its fastest drop in history, or on asset prices.

The full release is below:

Monetary Policy Summary for the special Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 19 March 2020

The spread of Covid-19 and the measures being taken to contain the virus will result in an economic shock that could be sharp and large, but should be temporary.  The role of the Bank of England is to help to meet the needs of UK businesses and households in dealing with the associated economic disruption.