Bernanke exits as Santa Claus for now

LIKE a Shakespearean hero, Ben Bernanke exited the world stage with a flourish that received an ovation from investors.

By reducing the Federal Reserve's monthly bond purchases by US$10 billion a month, Mr Bernanke began the undoing of the extraordinary monetary stimulus measures that will define him in history books. It was largely a symbolic adjustment: the central bank will still buy US$35 billion of mortgage bonds, the majority of such bonds issued in the US and US$40 billion of Treasury bonds.

Mr Bernanke was faced with a dilemma at the last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee mee…