MARIO DRAGHI, boss of the European Central Bank (ECB), is a polished speaker, clear and direct. Yet there was a moment after the bank’s monetary-policy meeting on September 13th when he was uncharacteristically vague. Asked how the ECB might recycle the proceeds from maturing bonds once it ends its bond-buying programme, he said the issue had not come up. “We haven’t even discussed when we’re going to discuss it.” Perhaps at the meeting in November. Or December. It will be soon, anyway.
Much of what central banks do is now telegraphed well in advance. Despite the occasional absurdities involved in giving fine-grained “forward guidance”, the Federal Reserve, the ECB and others have trained investors to know when to expect an increase in interest rates. Indeed, central-bank watching is no longer just concerned with clues about the timing of interest-rate changes or plans for bond purchases or sales. It has reached a more elevated plane, where statements by central bankers are parsed…
