No punch bowl. But central banks want the world to party on

Washington

CENTRAL bankers are gingerly trying to take away the punch bowl without interrupting the party. Led by interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve and the People's Bank of China, central banks around the world shifted towards a tighter monetary stance this week. Yet, the moves were either so well-telegraphed, or so tiny, and the language about future action so hedged, that there was barely a ripple in financial markets.

"They're terrified of upsetting the markets," said Paul Mortimer-Lee, chief market economist at BNP Paribas. So "they're all exiting quite slowly from emergency settings" on monetary policy.