There is scant comfort in the latest rate-setting minutes from the Bank of England for those seeking an early cut in UK interest rates. Only that serial dove, David Blanchflower, voted for a quarter-point cut at the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier this month. By eight to one the decision was for no change.

That was what most observers expected. Any quick cut could have been misinterpreted as "a signal that the outlook for growth and inflation had shifted decisively to the downside".

The economy had just emerged from a period when inflation was above target, even breaching the Bank's permitted range as recently as March.

Despite the fall to below the central 2% target in recent months, some inflation expectations remain high.

Given recent mayhem in global financial markets, any cut now might be seen as "a signal that monetary policy was focused on supporting the financial system and not on meeting the inflation target".

So the MPC sat on its hands. And, while the minutes note that some financial markets remain "fragile" and that the outlook for the US economy still looks "weighted to the downside", there is very little in these 10 pages to suggest a reduction in UK rates any time soon.

The Bank of England proved more conservative than either of its main peers - the US Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank - in responding to the global credit crunch spawned by the housing crisis in the US. It now seems determined to play an equally cautious role in the evolving aftermath.

The lead remains with the Fed. And its half-point cut in the key interest rate there on September 18 is already winning some people round.

A month ago, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan had raised the chances of an American recession to 50-50.

Now, on the back of a resurgent Wall Street, the top investment strategist at Goldman Sachs, Abby Joseph Cohen, says it is "most likely" the world's largest economy will avoid recession. She sees signs that, after a grim August in which overseas investors slashed their holdings of US securities by a net $69.3bn, more than three times the previous record high, overseas portfolio managers are moving more cash into US assets again.

If European and Asian companies are investing in the United States for both the medium and long-term again, she argues, they must think the US economy is doing "OK".

However, Cohen's surprisingly upbeat assessment comes as US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, has been warning yet again that the housing downturn in America would "continue to adversely impact our economy, our capital markets and many homeowners for some time yet".

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke had issued much the same warning earlier.

Construction of new homes across the US fell another 10.2% in September, taking the pace of building to its slowest since March 1993.

Clearly this housing slump, now bidding to be one of the worst since the Second World War, must add to the risks of outright recession.

Having moved swiftly to ease monetary conditions as the consequences of the sub-prime crisis spread, it is reasonable to assume the Fed will make further rate cuts, if the ongoing risks identified by Paulson and Bernanke fail to recede. But what of rates here in the UK?

That will depend, primarily, on what is happening to prices here. As Bank of England Governor Mervyn King made clear in his speech in Belfast last week: "Pressures on capacity mean that output growth needs to slow moderately over the next year or so if we are to continue to meet the inflation target.

"We will be monitoring closely the impact of tighter credit conditions on demand and output over the coming months.

"Even though inflation is close to the target and pay pressures are mute, we will continue to look ahead and monitor the risks to inflation that we identified in August ... Keeping inflation close to the 2% target is the biggest contribution the Bank of England can make to economic stability generally.

"Changes in base rate could not prevent the profound change in the world economy that pushed down yields on low-risk financial assets and led investors to take on more risk.

"They cannot now prevent the re-pricing of that risk. And just as the bank rate was not set to insulate the manufacturing sector from the trade deficit that resulted from the earlier change in the world economy, it will not be set now to insulate the banking system from the re-pricing of risk."

That reads very much like: It's not our problem, chaps. So don't expect us to cut our rates to help resolve it.

Whether the MPC can maintain that line if the US economy does slip into recession and sends tremors through the rest of us remains to be seen.

But as credit gets pricier for both business and consumers here, don't expect our rate-setters to follow the Fed and start cutting them any time soon.