Today's extraordinary one-and-a-half per cent rate cut by the Bank of England obviously underlines the gravity with which the authorities regard the gathering recession.
 
There was a real sense of history being made. The BoE had previously never cut interest rates by more than half a point since being granted independence by the incoming Labour government in 1997.
 
But every bit as surprising today was the indifference with which the stock market greeted what would normally be held as unmitigatedly good news for shares.
 
After all, lower interest rates are good for business and consumers alike. Previous half-point cuts have often been greeted by spikes in the FTSE 100, even if the euphoria has been temporary.
 
But today? The market had pretty much priced in a half-point cut, even a full-point cut, by the BoE's monetary policy committee given the parlous state of the world economy.
 

And it was distinctly unimpressed by the prospect, the Footsie trading down more than 200 points in the morning before the announcement.
 
But when the announcement came that the Bank had slashed rates - for once the journalistic hyperbole is pardonable - by 50 per cent more than the very best expectations, the market's insouciant depression was astounding.
 
After briefly cutting its losses to about 70 points, the blue-chip index resumed normal service and swiftly moved back 150 points into negative territory.
 
'What else yer got?', seemed to colloquially sum up the still-pervading mood of unimpressed pessimism in the market.
 
As said earlier, we are seeing amazing developments in the financial world that are failing to dent the negative mood. 'Rescues' are the new everyday.
 
Major US investment banks failing? Yeah. Governments privatising swathes of the financial sector? If you like.
 
Biggest UK interest rate cut since early-1980s recession, and one which even left-field economic pundits were not predicting? Whatever.
 
First African American president elected in the US, widely seen as a beacon of hope and cool composure after the mad, 'mission-accomplished' Bush years? Wall Street falls 5 per cent.
 
Saying we are in uncharted waters is no longer a lazy cliche. Currently it is the literal truth.