, Columnist
Central Bankers Have Lost the Plot on Messaging
Why can't the ECB, the Fed and the BoJ just give it to us straight?
Garbled messages.
Photographer: EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
It’s a big week for central bank meetings, with the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday, the Bank of England Thursday and the Bank of Japan wrapping it up on Friday.
My plea is that they keep it simple. Central bank messaging really doesn’t have to be as difficult as it has become lately — with a plethora of jargon-infected initiatives adding to investors’ pain. This isn’t the time to communicate intentions unclearly, nor to introduce confusing and unnecessary new policies. Give it to us straight; it’ll be easier in the long run.