International Monetary Fund says that financial markets face a higher risk of liquidity squeezes in a sell-off due to the effects of the long period of low interest rates. In a semi-annual report on global financial stability, the IMF economist Gaston Gelos said that markets for trading equities, bonds, currencies and other instruments generally appear liquid at the moment. But that liquidity, the ability of traders to easily buy or sell a large volume of an asset, could be more prone to evaporate in the current environment, causing more volatility and undermining financial stability. Report said that the low interest rates at the hands of the world's leading central banks in the United States, Europe and Japan have encouraged more risk taking.