Strange things have been happening in markets, that much we know.

In the credit world, derivatives linked to the corporate debt sold by companies have been trading at a tighter level than the cash bonds themselves. In the vast and shadowy repo market, the rates charged for interest rate swaps have plunged below equivalent U.S. Treasury yields. Meanwhile, in FX markets, the cost to convert local currency payments from the euro area, the U.K., and Japan into dollars has jumped, sending the so-called "cross-currency" basis deeper into negative territory.

While a sharply subzero cross-currency basis would normally be interpreted as a symptom of a profound dollar funding crunch associated with stressed-out banks trying desperately to hedge their liabilities, this particular bout of negativity appears to be more about massive post-2008 changes wrought on the wider financial system.