Chicken Little Gloom Is Overdone

FOR much of 2013 the worldâ??s big stockmarkets had a magical quality about them. They soared upwardsâ??Americaâ??s S&P 500 index rose by 30% last year, and Japanâ??s Nikkei by 57%â??buoyed by monetary stimulus and growing optimism about global growth. Over the past month, the magic has abruptly worn off. More than $3 trillion has been wiped off global share prices since the start of January. The S&P 500 is down by almost 5%, the Nikkei by 14% and the MSCI emerging-market index by almost 9%.