Over the last twelve to eighteen months, the configuration of the global markets has undergone a drastic shift. This post seeks to compare the twelve to eight month period immediately preceding 2018 with the market trends that have occurred since the start of that year. The objective is to understand just how different today's world appears to the one market participants lived through from the 2nd quarter of 2016 until the end of January 2018. The hope is that by analyzing this shift, we may gain insight as to whether another turn is set to happen again in the year or two ahead. 2016 - January 2018: A recession scare turns into euphoria Following the US nominal GDP slowdown from 2014-206 and Chinese scare , the Fed reacted by holding off from any further tightening for much of 2016. Simultaneously market participants began to correctly anticipate the Trump fiscal expansion. Furthermore, Chinese policymakers also eased their credit pol...