Economy: Volatile markets threaten the economies’ need for capital

While the equity markets fell hard between early July and August, since then they have recovered slightly while remaining highly volatile, regularly rising and falling by between two and four percentage points in a single day. This suggests a profound uncertainty as to whether or not the global economy can avoid the dreaded double dip and over how policymakers, now gathering in Washington for the annual meetings, will act.

Even though the sharp equity declines have stopped, such volatility is not at all inviting for investors seeking to allocate exposures; if prolonged, such skittishness in financial markets might soon start to affect the real economy. The most obvious way in which a negative feedback loop forms between financial markets and the economy is in the damage to manufacturers’ confidence following hefty falls in the stock market. The sell-off that began in early July was quickly followed by ugly readings from various confidence and manufacturing surveys by regional Federal Reserve banks in the US that are themselves often harbingers of recession.

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