It is not just in the money markets that liquidity has been drying up. It has also been happening in the UK equity market.

Over the past week, trading volumes in London have fallen sharply. Turnover in FTSE 100 stocks has not topped 1.6bn shares in the past five sessions, according to Reuters. To put that figure in perspective, the long-term average for the FTSE 100 is 1.9bn. Just before the index hit a seven-year high of 6,732 in June, turnover in blue-chip companies regularly hit 2bn shares.