Where have all the safe havens gone?

SANTA BARBARA: With equities slumping, exchange-rate volatility increasing, and political risks intensifying, financial markets around the world have hit a rou       gh patch. During times like these, international investors generally grow cautious and prioritise safety over returns, so money flees to “safe havens” that can provide secure, liquid investment-grade assets on a sufficiently large scale. But there are no obvious safe havens today. For the first time in living memory, investors lack a quiet port where they can find shelter from the storm.

Historically, the safe haven par excellence was the United States, in the form of Treasury bonds backed by the “full faith and credit” of the US government. As one investment strategist put it back in 2012, “When people are worried, all road lead to Treasuries.”