A few weeks ago, I wrote a column warning investors against taking a long summer holiday this year.
Sadly, I was right: no sooner did the markets breathe a sigh of relief over the resolution of the US debt ceiling dramas, they started gyrating with alarm over the eurozone. Call it, if you like, the curse of August: just as in 2007 and 2008 (or 1997 and 1998) the fact that senior leaders are absent and markets are thin is threatening to unleash a new wave of volatility.
But it is not just the summer temperatures that have historical echoes; viewed from New York, the manner in which this eurozone story is playing out feels unnervingly similar to the pattern behind the American financial turmoil of late 2008. Ponder some of these parallels: