Stopping the stimulus may be a strategic move, designed to allow some failures to occur in order to get support for the continuation of stimulus. Lehman Bros. was allowed to fail, before secretary of treasury Paulson pulled out his bazooka and made a $700bn ransom demand. If there wasn't a single massive failure, or if Lehman was forced to merge with the competition (like Bear Sterns), how much money would he be able to get? The support for stimulus is fading with many questioning the effectiveness of their quantitative easing programs. Maybe the central bank has chosen to step on the breaks to make an example of the situation. This could be a scare tactic, or could be a result of factored in inflation fears. I do not believe, however, that we've seen the end of intervention. This is merely an intermission.