The common feature among the different forms of forward guidance that have emerged over recent months is that they all aim at reinforcing rather than changing expectations on the overall policy orientation of the respective central bank. It is an essential condition for them to be credible.
References Brand C., D. Buncic and J. Turunen (2010), ‘The impact of ECB monetary policy decisions and communication on the yield curve’, Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 8 (6), pages 1266–1298. Bibinger, M., Linzert, T. and L. Winkelmann (2013), ‘ECB monetary policy surprises: identification through cojumps in interest rates’, SFB 649 Discussion Paper 2013–038.