That only heightened the economic pain for the many emerging economies that are major commodity producers, such as Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia. Given falling prices and high debt loads among energy producers in the United States, the markets for stocks and riskier corporate bonds came under stress, especially in early 2016. Their job isn’t to set a policy that will be best for China or Brazil or Indonesia. Entering 2015, things were looking pretty good for the United States. Sure, some oil drillers and farmers might experience lower incomes, but consumers everywhere would enjoy cheaper gasoline and grocery bills.

Source: New York Times September 29, 2018 09:00 UTC