Would an equity crash spell disaster for the economy?

The latest sell-off in equities is still a long way from the scale of those market corrections which coincided with recessions in the past. As things stand, the ~14% fall in the S&P 500 since February is unlikely to have notable negative implications for economic activity in the US and globally. And even if things got worse again and the S&P were to fall by more than 20%, it’s more likely that this would be a reflection of a weaker economic outlook, rather than the cause of a significant slowdown in GDP growth.