The Fearful Rise of Synchronized Markets

This Element is an excerpt from The Fearful Rise of Markets: Global Bubbles, Synchronized Meltdowns, and How To Prevent Them in the Future (9780137072996) by John Authers. Available in print and digital formats.

Why markets are more synchronized than ever before–and why that’s so terrifying.

World markets are synchronized, and far more prone to bubbles and meltdowns than ever. Why? In March 2007 I realized the world’s markets held each other in a tight, deadly embrace. One Bloomberg screen showed minute-by-minute action in the S&P 500. Then I called up a minute-by-minute chart of the yen’s exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. The chart was identical. What was going on?