…The 0.25 percentage point cut—the ECB's first since December—was forecast by more than two-thirds of the analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires, and takes rates below the 1% low that was hit in the wake of Lehman Brothers' 2008 collapse.
…In a move that could help thaw frozen interbank markets, the central bank also cut its overnight deposit and lending rates by 0.25 percentage point each, to 0% and 1.50% respectively. Cutting the deposit rate could encourage banks to lend out excess funds overnight rather than stashing them at the ECB.