The ECB should freeze rates

There used to be a handy device called the Greenspan-put among traders. If stock prices started to p...

There used to be a handy device called the Greenspan-put among traders. If stock prices started to plunge, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues would cut interest rates to calm the market. There should now be a Trichet put in a bid to stop equities from resuming their fall of the past week. Yet European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and the rate-setting governing council have signalled plans for a quarter-point increase tomorrow, taking the benchmark rate to 3.75%. Boosting borrowing costs now would be a mistake. The ECB has no way of knowing whet...