Janet Yellen stumbled in her first meeting as chairwoman of the US Federal Reserve after sending signals that appear to point to earlier than previously thought rises in interest rates.
Markets briefly plunged when Ms Yellen implied rates could rise six months after the Fed stops buying assets. If its bond purchases end as expected this autumn, that would suggest that rate increases could begin around April of 2015.
Ms Yellen also insisted in her press conference that there had been no change in the Fed’s policy intentions. The Fed is most probably still on course to raise rates in the second half of 2015 but it was a day of conflicting messages from the central bank.