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In the Balance: The Fear Gauge

28/06/2014

The Fear Gauge

BBC World Service - In the Balance, The Fear Gauge

The financial and political threats that could throw global markets off course

The financial and political threats that could throw global markets off course.

A curious phenomenon has become apparent. The global financial markets are not merely relaxed about the world's many political and economic  problems, they are positively becalmed. The global index of market volatility, the so-called Vix Index or 'fear gauge' as it is known, is registering a seven-year low. As low in fact as it was just before the financial meltdown of 2008. 

Ed Butler charts the financial and political threats that could throw global markets off course with guests George Magnus, senior economic advisor at UBS, Jonathan Wood, associate director responsible for Global Risk Analysis at the political risk consultancy Control Risks and Virginie Maisonneuve, Deputy CIO and head of Equities at the world's biggest bond firm, PIMCO.  Also, comedian Colm O' Regan shares his deepest fears.

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