The Federal Reserve wrapped up its final (perhaps?) quantitative easing programme in late October, having purchased $3.7 trillion in assets over a six-year period. This clears the way for the first increase in US interest rates since 2006. A substantial rise does not look likely for some time, given Fed chair Janet Yellen’s concerns about the nature of unemployment. But the Fed is moving in the opposite direction to the world’s next largest central banks, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank