While it remains up in the air about whether the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 or 50 basis points next week, it’s a certainty the U.S. central bank will embark on its first easing cycle since 2019. In this, the Fed will be joining other major Western central banks – the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada – all of whom have already cut interest rates, some more than once. While Japan hasn’t yet joined in and in fact has made the first initial steps towards tightening, its benchmark policy rate of 0.25% is only a few basis points above zero.