Markets have been surprised by the eruption of the financial crisis on August 9. But a number of analysts had drawn attention to the risks stemming from the co-existence of excessive liquidity, overextended institutions and an extreme sophistication of financial products.
This crisis is atypical. Contrary to the financial shocks of the 1980s and 1990s, the present turmoil did not come from emerging markets but from the US, the most prosperous country in the world. It originated in the mortgage subprime market (one of the most risky) and it spread worldwide, leading investors to lose confidence and to rush towards safer instruments. This process has practically dried out liquidity in a number of credit markets considered, most often wrongly, as dangerous.