Bungee jumps may be exhilarating, but they can also be frightening. They end up with the participants much lower than when they started-and with their safety hanging by a thread.rnThat has been the experience of investors this year. There have been some phenomenal stockmarket rallies, like the one on October 28th that carried the Dow Jones Industrial Average almost 900 points higher. But there has been a much greater number of dismal dips.rnClearly, bad news about the global economy has played its part. Investors are worried that a widespread recession will prompt corporate bankruptcies (and thus bond defaults) and a sharp fall in profits (hitting equities). The prospect of an economic slowdown has also prompted them to call the end of the commodities bull market (see chart).rnBut the speed of market movements suggests another factor has been even more important. When investors are in trouble, they sell what they can, not what they would like to. It looks as if they have been dumping a whole range of assets.
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