Overseas interest rate update -- cuts all around

This week has been a big one, at least as far as foreign central banks are concerned. The Reserve Bank of Australia cut that country's benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point to 4.25% on December 2. The Reserve Bank in New Zealand cut its benchmark rate by a whopping 1.5 percentage points to 5% yesterday. Sweden's Riksbank went one further, cutting rates by 175 basis points to 2%. Meanwhile, the Bank of England cut rates by 1 percentage point to 2% and the European Central Bank cut by a larger-than-expected 75 basis points to 2.5%.