Take Britain, where a government budget on Friday sparked a run on the pound and gilts, accelerated the downdraft across world markets, before prompting an astonishing policy U-turn from the Bank of England on Wednesday.
This unleashed a wave of buying across British assets - the 30-year gilt yield sank a record 100 basis points and sterling rose 1.5% - and triggered a pent-up recovery across world markets.
The relief was palpable: world stocks and the S&P 500 snapped six-day losing streaks, with the S&P 500 jumping around 2%.
Its tinkering at the edges seems to have failed, so will it soon have to take more forceful action to support the yuan?
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