So far this is just revision from the run up it had gotten. In reality this issue is an issue of banking and financing which continues to dig gigantic pits to cover their losses in oil companies and developers by lending them even more money. Until small, unprofitable oil drillers go belly up, don't expect any big bounce. That said, a oil price collapse is not liable to happen either. Expect a continued back and forth from recent (1-2 year) highs and lows.

Very insightful. Unfortunately the Federal Reserve and central banks are more near sighted than almost any market participant these days and is why they all move behind or opposite of the curve. The consequences of low to zirp rate policies are horrible because it primarily undermines capitalism and distorts not just prices of assets but even worse destroys cash flow which underpins credit. It becomes almost impossible to get things started again because rates will need to rise and no one has cash flow from investments after the bubble tops off. This all hits when no one can get more credit. UGLY.

Nice article. The first step to getting out of the mess is to somehow force the Federal Reserve to open their eyes and recognize and admit they made a mess and then convince them to fix it without destroying what's left.

We should be more scared. The Fed plays with economic tools of mass destruction regularly. They primarily have been using radioactive monetary policies that leave our economy frazzled by killing growth long term and obliterating capitalism. The worst yet, is when the storms come there will be nothing to protect anyone from the economic downpours of a recession.

The sad fact is no one has said or done enough about it. Irrevocable damage has already been done. Now we just sit and wait.

It does look more turbulent, however, March was not that turbulent.

There is little slack in the labor market for highly skilled and experienced workers. That said, it will have little to benefit the majority of Americans and there is an ever growing population of less skilled labor to add to the glut in such labor. Despite claims illegal immigrants are taking the few scarce unskilled labor jobs out there, unless those people who aren't working want to pick crops in the field, do housechores, etc. for minimum wage or less this is not an answer.

One thing that is adding to the plight of low skilled labor is the monetization of housing which is decidedly favoring raising house and land prices and hiking rents rather than constructing affordable housing. Scarcity makes higher profitability than construction. The low rates have only added to the hoarding of property adding the the free market distortions by banking.

Those hoping for a mass economic boom that will help the whole population will not see it until the free market takes over from the managed economy we have embraced with central bank and government manipulation. The prime benefits will be, not inflation, but lower housing costs, jobs growth focused on businesses focused on growth rather than monetization and gambling, increased income from savings that generate interest again, increased innovation and new job categories driven by economic demand and not jobs from government mandates and regulations and government deals perpetuated by insiders.

This will come at the cost of those betting on real estate, banks, government regulators, derivatives gamblers, and corrupt insiders who make money off the government and regulations. This is why they want to keep things as is. Sadly, there is no real change to make this happen in the political realm yet.

The sad fact is people making such hullabaloo about minor market declines. I agree with the author that you shouldn't expect much from banking and that the market is not doing much of anything these days as a collective. However, good stocks can still rise substantially.

Risks are growing but I doubt they will materialize. That said, there is a good chance that the budget will continue on without a coherent underlying foundation and be sustained by incremental continuation bills much like the last 8 years. This may be a not so bad solution if the big solutions are to massively increase the deficit or obliterate areas of spending which are extremely controversial and may lead to severe disruptions to normal or critical activities.

Sadly QE just boosted asset prices into bubble territory and commodities fell as it aided in killing growth and demand as dividend income and buying power dried up. Inflation and commodity bubbles are yet to come if the Federal Reserve does nothing if deficits grow and the counter inflationary forces of free trade are curbed.

China and Russia are more likely to fight over gold with each other than cooperate if it becomes a tier one asset with currency. For now they are both looking for other safe assets besides the US dollar as the US is destabilizing itself as a safe investment with talks of trade wars and tariffs. In reality what will help them most is getting along and selling to Europe and each other.