“US credit markets are grinding to a halt.” So warned the front page of Monday’s Financial Times. Followers of this column will recognize the ensuing list of culprits – money pouring out of loan funds, falling secondary loan prices and resultant choppiness in the primary market, and stalled high-yield bond issuance.

Credit markets may be indeed be poised for a major correction. Every day the Dow racks up triple-digit losses certainly sets an increasingly gloomy backdrop for investors. Combined with the Fed’s “dovish hike” yesterday, and we have an interesting soup of market signals.

It does feel as if we’re at an inflection point. What’s not evident is whether this is the prelude to a recession or merely a new clearing price for leveraged loans.