World stock market losses are approaching $8 trillion so far this year and investors last week poured the most money into government bond funds in a year, suggesting they fear the global economy could tip into recession, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday. Stocks around the world have had one of their worst January's on record, with slumping oil prices, deepening concern over China, and the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike in a decade all spooking investors. Government bond funds attracted a "huge" $5.1 billion in the week to Jan. 20, the biggest inflow in 12 months. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell below 2 percent this week for the first time in three months, and investors slashed bets on how far the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year. Europe's main stock markets and Japan's Nikkei index entered bear market territory this week, marking a decline of 20 percent or more from their peaks. But all bounced back sharply on Friday. Investors pulled $2.3 billion from emerging market equity funds and $4.3 billion from U.S. funds in the week to Jan. 20, while Japanese stock funds attracted a net $3 billion.
I guarantee there are those out there wishing that things gets worst because so far...I don't see a real panic...global markets together having trade halts, pension plans being bankrupted, grocery store price so ridiculous that they have to start laying off employees, middle class folks foreclosing on homes... If that happens, that's the real panic and there will be folks (most likely the rich) waiting on the sidelines to buy up anything they can get their hands on because that's when the big global economies get together and start bailing out the rich...allowing the rich to buy anything they can get their hands on.