Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha (TMR Media Sdn Bhd, 2019)
In 2018, the global economy began with much promise. The prior year had seen fairly strong and synchronised growth across the US, Western Europe and industrialised Asia. Stock markets rose to reect this steady stable growth. The S&P 500 had one of its most consistent and strongest runs in the 10-month period leading to October 2018. The broad-based index reached its historic peak in late September. Since then, from October, both the global economy and stock markets appeared to have gone through a series of jolts. Risk and volatility appear to have returned with a vengeance. The last quarter (4Q) of 2018 was tumultuous from an economic viewpoint. Why the sudden turn of fortune? For one thing, the bull run in the US stocks has aged. The post-crisis recovery is now 10 years old. The monetary stimulus is a spent force, but the resulting build-up in global debt remains.
