Start with the first, volatility. Equity market instability might feed on itself. <En gi !
The VIX, which measures the expected volatility implied by the price of options on the S&P 500 index, &RTX6%'KY
vaulted from around 15 to above 27 in a matter of days. Some investment strategies are particularly sensitive to it. 51QRM32Y
For example when volatility is low, they allow for a bigger weighting of equities in portfolios. O/!bG~\Y
But when it rises and stays high, some investors are forced to unload some of their holdings—creating yet more volatility. D91e\|]
Some exchange-traded funds whose value is linked to the VIX saw outflows. c?%(Dp E
It is likely that at least some investors have been betting on continued near-dormant volatility.
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The resilience of such strategies could be tested. po}F
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A bigger worry is credit markets and in particular corporate debt, which has soared over the past decade. CQpCS_M
A sharp rise in borrowing costs would hurt firms that need to roll-over maturing bonds # (- Qx
and would also rattle America's huge private-credit markets. XduV+$ 03
The last big global growth scare, in late 2018, caused a panicky sell-off that briefly threatened to become a credit-crunch. "hQ_sgz[Z
So far the interest-rate spread over Treasuries demanded by investors to hold high-yield corporate paper yA3wtm/?
has widened to 4.3 percentage points, with much of the impact felt by energy-sector bonds. That is cause for concern, not alarm. "jaJr5Wv=y
But new issuance has halted—by February 26th Wall Street had gone three days without any high-grade offerings, according to Bloomberg. zR32PG>9
If that continues there will be a corporate liquidity squeeze. e*.b3 z
Interest-rate cuts cannot do much to remedy the disruption. But they can help to soothe credit markets. @l0|*lo%
Easier policy from the Federal Reserve has in the past—notably in 1998— Kb^>-[Yx
been fuel for a late-cycle rally in risk assets in the face of formidable headwinds. & V)6!,rb
A fortnight ago, just a single interest-rate cut from the Fed was priced in by the markets, 10#f`OP C
says Kit Juckes of Societe Generale, a French bank. Now two are. Z,.G%"i3C
"We may be pricing in a third, if not a fourth, within a few weeks unless there's a dramatic change in the covid-19 news." /NFz4h =>
首先是波动性。股市的不稳定可能会自食其果。 >g;kJe
衡量标准普尔500指数期权价格隐含预期波动率的VIX指数 n\ Hs@.
在几天内从15左右升至27以上。一些投资策略对它特别敏感。 MJ\ eh>v&
例如，当波动性较低时，它们允许在投资组合中赋予股票更大的权重。 Cz8f1suO4
但当它上升并保持在高位时，一些投资者被迫抛售他们持有的一些股票，这就造成了更大的波动。 Z,X'-7YkU
一些价值与VIX挂钩的交易所交易基金出现了资金外流。 Ou>v
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至少有一些投资者可能一直押注持续接近隐匿的波动性。 BJS-Jy$-
这些策略的弹性是可以检验的。 <s@-:;9~
更令人担忧的是信贷市场，尤其是过去10年飙升的公司债务。 JO'>oFv_W
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借贷成本的急剧上升将会伤害那些需要对到期债券进行展期的公司， 1R. 4:Dn_
同时也会使美国庞大的私人信贷市场陷入混乱。
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上一次全球经济增长恐慌发生在2018年末，当时引发了恐慌性抛售，并一度有演变成信贷紧缩的危险。
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到目前为止，投资者持有高收益公司债券所需的国债息差 /(8a~f&%r
已扩大至4.3个百分点，其中大部分影响来自能源板块的债券。这值得担心，但不必恐慌。 /Ky__l!bu
根据彭博社报道，新的发行已经停止——到2月26日，华尔街已经三天没有任何高等级债券发行。 }Up.){.%
如果这种情况持续下去，将出现企业流动性紧缩。 dC<LDxlv
降息并不能弥补这种混乱。但它们可以帮助稳定信贷市场。 fKtV '/X;Q
过去，美联储早期较为宽松的政策——尤其是在1998年—— .O0O-VD+a
曾推动风险资产在面临可怕逆风的情况下在晚周期出现反弹。 Ac|5. ?|N
法国兴业银行的Kit Juckes表示两周前， }!TL2e
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市场已经消化了美联储一次降息的影响。现在是两次。 [= "r<W0
“除非关于Covid-19的新闻出现戏剧性变化，否则在几周内， 市场可能不是要消化第四次就是第三次。 -]:G L>b
