The accelerating bear market for the S&P 500 and other stock indexes is exposing "who's been swimming nude," as Warren Buffett famously quipped
the Federal Reserve hurriedly withdraws the strong tide of free money that kept the U.S. economy afloat during the worst of the Great Recession.
For American investors, the Fed's extraordinary pace of balance-sheet tightening and quickest rate hike since the early 1980s have been excruciating.
However, the acute lack of liquidity is destabilising global currency markets to even larger degrees.
Investors are finding refuge in the highest U.S. Treasury rates in 13 years as a result of the impending global recession and Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons.
Since the global financial crisis of 2008, an unlimited supply of cheap dollars has whetted risk appetites and allowed for low borrowing rates.