After the Fed Reserve hiked the interest rates to 3 to 3.25% on 22 Sep 2022, the following events happened very quickly :
- Bond bloodbath. We nearly saw a Lehman-like crisis in the UK. The UK pension funds were selling gilts frantically due to margin call on their leveraged bets. And the Bank of England had to reverse course of tightening and did quantitative easing to calm the markets while having the worst inflation in recent history. With the easy money policy that lasted for so long, we would assume that the cumulative lucrative leveraged bets over the years have grown to gargantuan proportions.
- Currency rout. The Bank of Japan had to sell treasuries to prop up the yen. The British pound was pounded negative 7.4% in 2 days. They are behind the US curve in hiking interest rates.
- Energy crisis. The Russian gas pipe lines Nord Stream 1 and 2 were sabotaged. Many EU economies are dependent on Russian gas. UK is already expecting utility rates to double or triple causing much economic hardship to the lower income groups.
- Housing price deceleration. This is expected as the US average mortgage rate has hit above 7%.
- Bear global stock markets. All major stock markets are in bear territory. The US stock markets had probably lost USD 8 trillion dollars or more in the slow train wreck in one year. Likewise for the rest of the western capitalism states. All previous market routs paled in comparison.
All economies are caught between the rock of increasing interest rates to fight inflation and the hard place of quantitative tightening in a period entering technical recession or rapidly slowing growth.
You can see the colossal losses in the stock markets just in the US. (See the charts and links below.) Due to media censorship, much hardship faced by the rest of the world is not reported.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/27/stock-market-losses-wipe-out-9-trillion-from-americans-wealth-.html
The current crisis indeed followed the 7 year apocalypse since Sep 2001, Sep 2008 and Sep 2015 in term of severity of adverse market conditions. But will the whole financial system collapse soon ? Our Lord is sovereign and He alone decides when He will destroy all wealth in one hour. Rev 18:17-19. All glory and honor to our Lord.
Postscript I:
I noticed the sudden intensity of famine, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The Horn of Africa faces the worst drought in history and requires grain relief or will face terrible famine. There were several earthquakes measuring Richter scale 7 happening within 2 weeks in various places around the world. The Hurricane Ian caused the worst economic damage to the state of Florida estimated at USD 260 billion. The Florida governor said it was the worst 500 year flooding event.
Postscript II:
Though the DOW might fall to the lowest in Sep 2022 since the start of the pandemic, we could see the blatant manipulation of the Babylonian system. You can read of how the Biden administration overstated the job growth figure by a full million when the actual growth was just 10,500 jobs. But such information would be enough to cause big swing in the markets when investors cheered believing the economy was doing real fine. (https://nypost.com/2022/12/22/biden-administration-overstated-q2-job-growth-by-1-million-philadelphia-fed/ ). Nevertheless the Lord is sovereign and He alone decides when He will judge this Babylonian system and destroy all its wealth. (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/philadelphia-fed-admits-us-payrolls-overstated-least-800000)
Postscript (1st March 2024):
When I prayed the last time in 2016 to know the time for the global collapse, I was given the parable of the wicked tenants. This parable appeared in 3 passages : Matt 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19. I only read Luke 20:9-19 then and I mis-read that there would be only 3 attempts to recover the rent by the vineyard owner before he came to destroy these tenants. It was actually 4. The other 2 passages have more attempts than 4. The major stock markets have crashed four times in Sep 2001, Sep 2008, Sep 2015 and Sep 2022 (not counting Feb 2020 at the start of the pandemic). When will the final one come ?
