If markets are supposed to reflect the balance of fear and greed, why do so few of them reflect a widespread fear that US politicians are about to provoke a default? In the Treasury markets, which would be directly affected, 10-year yields remain below 3 per cent, their decades-long downward trend still intact.

If there is a partial exception, it is in currencies. The dollar’s downward trajectory is well-established, and on a trade-weighted basis it is now only 3.5 per cent above the all-time low it set in the crisis summer of 2008. But its fall since last Friday’s breakdown in congressional talks has varied this pattern in one significant respect.

The dollar is recently obeying the logic of “risk on” and “risk off”. Whenever risk aversion mounts, then equities and commodities sell off, while the dollar gains. This week has been bad for equities, and yet the dollar sold off. So the dollar itself is now seen as central to the risks that worry the market.