During this week, global risk appetite dropped to "panic" levels for the first time since January 2012, according to Credit Suisse's Global Risk Appetite Index. That was back when investors feared a breakup of the euro bloc, grappled with unsustainably high sovereign borrowing costs and freaking out about the spillover from Greece.

Before that, the index reached panic state around the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., during the dotcom bubble and after Black Monday in 1987. Get the picture?
Credit Suisse
This time, Credit Suisse's Global Risk Appetite Index slipped into panic territory just as global equity markets were wrapping up their worst quarter in four years. That came as investors feared a sharp slowdown in China's economy and a collapse in commodity prices.

"Global growth is not a strong supportive factor for risky assets right now," said the analyst team led by the bank's chief economist, James Sweeney.