Is it a correction rather than a crisis? Perhaps, but consider this sobering list of 31 crises, prepared by Tim Bond, a strategist at Barclays Capital. His conclusion? "A western equity market crash will complete this litany of disasters ... since [equities] are mispriced by most yardsticks and since their fundamentals are daily worsening."
A pan-Asian domestic banking crisis
A pan-Asian economic slump
A yen crisis
A renminbi/HK dollar crisis
An international bank lending crisis centred on Asia
An ongoing collapse in all Asian equity markets
A Japanese bank equity crash
A collapse in Antipodean currency values
A Canadian dollar collapse
A complete (bar 15 to 20 cents on the dollar) Russian default
A total collapse in the rouble
A political crisis in Russia
A sharp sell-off in east European bonds and currencies
A sharp sell-off in Greek bonds and currency
An explosion in swap/government spreads
An explosion in corporate/government spreads
A delivery squeeze in the Bund
A Scandinavian currency crisis
A sharp rise in Scandinavian yields and rates
A South African currency and bond collapse
A Latin American bond collapse
A probable Latin American recession
A Latin currency crisis
A crash in commodity prices
A crash in basic-goods prices
An unprecedented rise in all developed-nation financing costs
A collateral/repo market crisis
A potential financial industry crisis driven by all of the above
A possible resignation of the US president
A probable/possible removal of Kohl in Germany
A completely inevitable removal of the present Japanese government...