The angst was underscored in a blunt speech by the International Monetary Fund's new managing director, Christine Lagarde. "We risk seeing the fragile recovery derailed," she said Saturday. Those risks have been aggravated, she said, by the public's sense that policy makers' response has been inadequate. "We are in a dangerous new phase," the former French finance minister said.

What Ms. Lagarde said publicly, several central bankers expressed privately. The central bankers' problems are compounded by internal divisions and current realities. Several U.S. Federal Reserve officials have doubts about how much more they can do to resuscitate a U.S. recovery that is falling short of Fed expectations. Most European Central Bank officials believe the solutions to Europe's sovereign-debt, governance and banking woes lie with elected leaders, not the ECB.

David Fuller's view I have yet to see a stock market which does not enjoy talk of a stimulus. Clarion calls from the 'do something' brigade among monetary officials has certainly unleashed a frenzy of short covering and bargain hunting within stock markets today.

What can we expect and how might it influence various markets from equities to bonds, commodities and currencies?

The technical cognoscenti among veteran subscribers know that price trends become self-feeding, often until they either exhaust themselves or are reversed by events.

Last month's market meltdown was a wakeup call for politicians and monetary officials. They tend to be crisis oriented and the prospect of another market blow to sentiment - compounding their problems of slow growth, deleveraging and debt - appears to be mobilising the monetary cavalry.

The effects of such efforts on economies are uncertain and debatable, but they remain capable of providing the catalyst for a stock market rebound of consequence. We saw it in 2009 and again in anticipation of last November's QE2.

There is seldom a dull moment in these fast moving markets. Eoin and I now reckon that the chances of the August lows representing the region of a bottoming out and support building phase for most stock markets, and certainly Fullermoney secular themes, is at least 50/50.

Analytically, it is more difficult to identify the end of a short, sharp bear market than a major collapse such as we last saw in 2008. Widespread panics similar to three years ago create an avalanche of selling among those who wish to get out, eventually at any price. This removes most of the overhead supply and also depresses valuations. Therefore, once shock and inertia give way to recovery hopes, markets can rebound rapidly.

Smaller bear trends, such as we have seen recently for most stock markets, are clearly less climactic. Consequently, they tick fewer boxes in terms of recovery prospects. Experienced investors know this, so shallower corrections or bear trends are usually followed by lengthier ranging, support building phases. For an example, consider the ranging at this time last year following a correction, compared to the 2Q 2009 recovery evident on this weekly chart of the S&P 500 Index and many other indices or individual shares.

With smaller bear markets, technical confirmation of recovery cannot be confirmed until after the event. Nevertheless, we can be precise about the criteria: higher reaction lows since August 8 or 9 should remain the norm rather than the exception; today's relative strength standouts such as Indonesia among ASEAN leaders and the list compiled by Eoin below should continue to perform rather than capitulate; bank shares, and this has been the area of greatest risk, should rebound at least temporarily; long-dated government bond yields should rally, as we last saw in 1H 2009 and 4Q 2010.

Given clear evidence of meaningful stimulus from governments and central banks in the west, and hopefully a pause in Asia's monetary tightening, I would expect to see the following:

Stronger commodity prices, including precious metals

Stronger stock markets, led by Fullermoney secular themes

Rising long-dated government bond yields

Renewed strength by Asian and resources currencies