Fizzy profits: Why it's no surprise that US stock market has turned nasty

After so many months of fizzy profits, a downturn was long overdue

Until this month, the scariest thing about the stock market was its uncanny calm and stability. Like the opening sequences of a classic horror movie, the market last year was relentlessly and unnaturally cheerful.
 
Well, now the ax has fallen and the stock market has begun a “correction” — financial jargon for a decline of at least 10 per cent.
 
The scariest thing about the market right now is the shocked response of traders who had become accustomed to the unsustainably placid conditions that have been unceremoniously swept away.
 
The precise timing of the market plunge was