Gobal Markets

SO FAR, 2016 has been something of a disaster around global markets. Equity and commodity prices have been hammered. Yields on safe government bonds are plumbing extraordinarily low levels. Investors seem to be terrified.

 But of what? Recession talk has increased, but real economic data in most countries don’t look especially bad (though they are backward looking, and enough market pessimism can at any rate turn self-fulfilling). Some suspect the mess is a reaction to troubles in the worlds banking system.