Bank of America calls it the Icarus Trade. Global stock markets will surge by another 10pc in a parabolic 'melt-up' this quarter, akin to the final stage of the dotcom boom.

This will be followed by a mirror 'melt-down' later in 2017 as the US Federal Reserves squeezes global liquidity, and rising bond yields puncture the Trump reflation trade.

Michael Hartnett, the bank's investment strategist, says there will be a perfect moment for the 'Big Short' within a few months, but first we must all wait for the speculative fever to pass. The warning signs of a market top are not yet flashing red.

The Bull/Bear ratio is a frothy 3.4, but far from extreme. The cash reserves of money managers have fallen to a 19-month low of 4.8pc. The danger zone is nearer 4pc. Powerful rallies tend to draw all but the most steely resisters into the vortex first.

Bank of America recommends "laggard risk assets", singling out British assets as the ultimate unloved play. We in the UK may think that the headline rise of the FTSE-250 over the last twenty months is not so bad, but for sophisticated investors who think in dollar terms it has been a 20pc haircut. Britain PLC is cheap.

Picking the last pennies off tracks before an incoming train is only for the nimble and brave.  Mr Hartnett says bond stress is creeping up on the markets. The peak-to-trough losses for holders of US Treasuries over the last five months are already greater than before the 1987 crash, the Orange County and Mexico blow-ups in 1994, and is not far short of the 'taper tantrum' in 2013.

The great unknown is where the pain threshold lies in a global system with debt ratios that are now roughly 40pc of GDP higher than just before the Lehman crisis. Bank of America fears a further rise in yields of 50 to 75 basis points may be enough to trigger a "financial event".

HSBC's latest global outlook is even darker. Indeed, it is astonishing. The bank expects yields on 10-year US Treasuries to push a little higher to 2.5pc before crashing back to historic lows of 1.35pc by the end of the year, taking global yields with them.

Markets will conclude by the summer that Trumpian stimulus does not add up to much, and that the reflation narrative is a hoax. "We believe that equities are walking a tightrope, and there is a fairly long way to fall," said the bank.

While I do not take a view on stock prices, HSBC's outlook is broadly in line with my own. The world cannot easily withstand the sort of Fed tightening now being etched into forecasts by the macro-economic fraternity.

The Institute of International Finance says debt has reached $217 trillion, a record ratio of 325pc of GDP. What is remarkable is that even in mature economies -  trying to 'deleverage' - the ratio jumped by 6pc of GDP to 390pc over the first nine months of last year.

There is almost nowhere left to hide. Corporate debt in emerging markets has risen from $6.5 trillion to $25.5 trillion since Lehman, with the 'credit gap' signalling danger in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Turkey, and Indonesia. Total off-shore dollar debt has risen fivefold to $10 trillion since 2000.

David Fuller's view

One expects a range of different forecasts at the beginning of January each year, and 2017 is no exception.  Love him or loath him, president-elect Trump is particularly newsworthy and a factor in these forecasts.  

On Monday I posted James W Paulson’s bullish report for Wells Capital Management in which he referred to the return of animal spirits no less than 24 times.  In Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s column above he first quotes Michael Hartnett from Bank of America who predicts further momentum gains before “a perfect moment for the ‘Big Short’ within a few months”.  AEP then cites HSBC’s latest global outlook as even “darker” and in line with his own views.  The bank expects US 10-Year Treasury yields to retest their early-July lows near 1.35%, with equites walking a tightrope from which there is a long way to fall.  

I will stick to my market comments from last Monday, easily seen via the link in the paragraph above.  More importantly, keep an eye on the charts for Wall Street, which Eoin and I will certainly be commenting on during every step of this interesting journey.  I view it as an opportunity for additional stock market gains but that usually means that risks of sharp reactions are also increasing.    

Here is a PDF of AEP’s column.