BMI: It's too early to call a bear market

Despite the recent turmoil in financial markets, analysts at BMI, a research arm of Fitch, believe it is too early to assert that macro or market conditions have deteriorated significantly. "The surge in financial market volatility is the result of a perfect storm of macro and market shocks at a time when risk assets are already overbought and overstretched," BMI said. When the correction began, the stock market had already rebounded sharply and was prone to selling. BMI pointed out that 5%-10% corrections are quite common in bull markets, and volatility tends to increase between July and October. Factors that could indicate that the stock market rout turns to a bear market and drags on the global economy include: stocks falling below key support levels, geopolitical tensions driving oil higher, and continued weakness in US data exacerbating concerns that the Fed's policy is too lagging. (Jinshi)