Analysts everywhere (those that mocked the Cassandras that have said for a while that markets had gone crazy) have been forced to acknowledge that there is a brutal repricing of risk, and a new, sudden, unwilligness by banks to fuel the buy out craze - the debt-fuelled purchases of corporations by private equity funds at ever rising valuations. However, many are still calling this "healthy": a belated, but reasonable, return to normal after some excesses. (This is also what was said about the housing market before it claimed its first victims in the subprime lending sector this year).
I was suspicious of all of the "private equity" buyout activity over the last few months. It certainly looks like something very unusual is going on in the banking system, and the injections of liquidity by the central banks certainly make it look serious.
IOW, the gyrations of the stock markets may be masking something much more serious - something that started with the sub-prime loan meltdown.
Cheers,
Scott.