Central banks are not so much taking away the punch bowl from the party as handing guests their coats and holding the door open for them to leave. If there were any doubts about the direction of global monetary policy, Thursday’s simultaneous rate rises from the European Central Bank and Bank of England (after Australia earlier in the week) settled them.

In the long run, this is probably positive for the markets, since some had started to fear that central banks were going soft on inflation, after the deflationary scare of 2003. Although it may well turn out that higher commodity prices serve to contract demand, instead of resulting in a cost-push price spiral, banks are not taking the risk.