Mario Draghi delivered a policy surprise, but it wasn't one that will change the path of the crisis. The new president of the European Central Bank used his first meeting in charge to cut interest rates, partially reversing what now seems a clear policy error by the ECB earlier this year. That showed a welcome departure from the old regime. But there was no change to the ECB's stance on government-bond purchases, the only policy that really matters for the market.

Sure, the quarter-point rate cut to 1.25% surprised economists, who had expected the new president to prepare the ground for a December rate cut, as his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet, might have done. Draghi also warned of a "mild recession" in the euro area that would depress inflation. That suggests a shift in emphasis: In August, the ECB was still worried about a wage-price spiral even as the economy was cooling and the sovereign crisis deepening. But the interest-rate cut is largely symbolic. It may help Germany at the margin but will do little for the southern European economies already contracting rapidly.