April looks set to be the worst month since August 2015 (when China devalued and turmoil spread across the world) for global financial stress. As Bloomberg reports, rising geopolitical concerns are pushing a gauge of anxiety for global asset classes to this year’s high.
The Global Financial Stress Index is a Bank of America Merrill Lynch calculated, cross market measure of risk, hedging demand and investor flows in the global financial system.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Financial Stress Index climbed to 0.24 last week, meeting the peak reached in February and rebounding from a low at the end of March. A positive reading indicates more financial-market stress than normal.
This signal suggests more possible downside to US equities.
