WASHINGTON, June 17 Reuters Six months ago the world39;s major central banks were primed for a move that anyone with a credit card or hoping to buy a home or run a business would cheer A global shift to lower interest rates that would make borrowing cheaper and loans more available across the board.

Rate cuts are a topic of discussion out in the world and also a discussion for us, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference last December, when the mood among investors was giddy over the prospect of looser financial conditions, and organizations like the International Monetary Fund worried that Powell and company would jump the gun, cut rates too fast, and undermine efforts to tame inflation.

Those fears were misplaced, it turns out.

The joint easing of monetary policy that appeared imminent at the end of 2023 has largely fizzled as major central banks confronted inflation that proved more persistent than expected, and economic and wage growth that proved more resilient.

Some modest steps have been made, including initial cuts this month by the European Central Bank and Bank of Canada.

But that was largely to deliver on a promise made when inflation seemed to be falling fast, and the mood in Frankfurt, London, Washington and elsewhere has since shifted from the central bank version of start your engines to something more akin to hold your horses.

After rapidly raising interest rates in 2022 and 2023 to fight inflation, the initial move to loosen…