Three Asian bond sales pulled in a single day. In other economic cycles, it would be the sort of event that might help a reporter win a name for spotting early signals of far bigger trouble. But there are few signs the failures were a harbinger of something more serious.

This week three junk-rated borrowers — Chinese, Indonesian and Indian — pulled bond offerings, unhappy at their borrowing costs. For any issuer to withdraw a deal after launch is extremely rare. Emerging market sovereign credit spreads — the basis off which companies price their bond sales deals have been edging higher for the past three months, too.

Asian companies have also been borrowing record amounts this year in the dollar bond markets. Twenty years on from the Asian financial crisis, and ten since the western credit crunch that presaged the 2008 global financial crisis, that might augur badly, too.