The stock market just finished a brutal third quarter…

The S&P 500 fell 8%…and so did the Dow and the Nasdaq. It was the worst quarter for U.S. stocks since 2011.

Stocks around the world dropped too. The MSCI All-Country World Index, which tracks 85% of global stocks, also had its worst quarter since 2011. The STOXX Europe 600 Index, which tracks 600 of Europe’s largest companies, fell 10%. It was the worst quarter for European stocks since 2011 as well.

China’s Shanghai Composite fell 28% last quarter, its largest quarterly decline in seven years. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 19%. It was the worst quarterly decline for emerging market stocks in four years.

In total, last quarter’s selloff erased nearly $11 trillion in value from stocks around the world.

•  Casey Report readers know this is part of our “script”…

In the latest issue of The Casey Report, E.B. Tucker called the end of the six-year bull market in U.S. stocks that began in 2009:

We believe the era of asset prices soaring on a wave of easy credit is over. Last month’s major stock market decline is the start of a very tough time for stocks and the economy…

Regular readers know the Federal Reserve’s response to the last financial crisis was extraordinary. The Fed cut its key interest rate to effectively zero in December 2008…and it’s left it there ever since.

The Fed made it ridiculously cheap to borrow money. Consumers borrowed to buy homes they would never be able to afford in a “normal” economy. Property developers borrowed to build new houses. And investors borrowed to buy stocks.

Easy money allowed a buying binge that sent prices soaring. Many asset prices have completely lost touch with reality. We recently explained how U.S stocks are roughly 50% more expensive than their long-term average, according to a popular valuation metric called CAPE.

•  Many currencies also had a horrible quarter…