Central banks and markets are sending contradicting signals

Frankfurt, London For months, there has hardly been a topic that has haunted the financial markets as much as the question of when the major central banks will withdraw their monetary policy and the markets of the so important liquidity. The focus here is primarily on the US Federal Reserve (Fed). At least some investors feared ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy meeting on Wednesday that the stock exchanges would at least briefly dip at this point if the Fed put on the brakes on bond purchases.

Guido Barthels, fund manager at TBF Global Asset Management, put it this way: “It’s like being on the ghost train: Everyone knows what is happening and is still scared.” Late on Wednesday evening, the Fed initiated the turnaround in monetary policy, but for now nobody was frightened.