Starting in the spring of 2009, a fast recovery in global equities and a rise in house values in many economies (the euro area and Japan are exceptions) were accompanied by a reduction in corporate bond spreads and other risk premia (Graphs and , top panels), though some risk measures have meanwhile risen again in the context of the Greek sovereign debt crisis. Reported VaR figures show that risk as measured by potential losses from banks’ trading positions remains high (Graph , bottom left-hand panel). At the same time, a primary goal of central bank and government actions during the 2007–09 crisis was to stop the collapse.
