Americaâ??s central bank is to launch a third round of â??quantitative easingâ?, Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, announced, while extending the length of its pledge to keep interest rates at rock-bottom. On cue, global equities surged, as confidence grew that the worldâ??s leading central banks have â??finally taken decisive actionâ? to buttress both the US and European economies.
Bernankeâ??s move, of course, followed news in early September that the European Central Bank is to engage in â??unlimitedâ? buying of the sovereign bonds of â??peripheralâ? eurozone members. This encouraged the belief that monetary union is less likely to crumble, which cheered up global equity markets just before last weekend.
