Nowadays the financial markets perform a monitoring function all around the clock. Those markets test countries’ policies. They scrutinise the lasting sustainability of public finance. They scrutinise the gearing of monetary policy to stability. Where they register doubt, they are able to penalise massively by siphoning off capital and imposing high capital market rates.
Hence the financial markets, in their monitoring and sanctionative capacity, figure as valuable allies of a monetary policy geared to stability. BIS Review 18/1997  -5-  At the same time, however, the financial markets often appear to give cause for concern. Many people are suspicious of the financial markets’ power.