OFFICIALDOM of various sorts played central roles this week, starting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday and ending with the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday.

However, contrary to expectations, the impact they made was the exact opposite of what markets had anticipated - the IMF's endorsement of China's yuan as a reserve currency pushed stocks up instead of down as yuan devaluation fears were defused by assurances from China's central bank, while the ECB disappointed markets with its stimulus package because markets had expected more.

If the steep drop suffered by Western markets on Thursday teaches us anything, it's that markets appear to be still operating along the lines of "bad news is good for stocks", ie, they are highly dependent on money handouts to keep rising.