The fallout from the US mortgage mess continues to hurt the US market and beyond. It's spread to the rest of the world, as far afield as Australia, Britain, Japan, Europe, and China.

Clearly, issues once specific to the US are now flowing through to other markets as banks force borrowers to sell assets and investors scramble away from risk. There are now fears that the trouble in the US subprime market will spread to other debt which would in turn drive up the cost of corporate borrowing and undermine mergers and acquisitions that have fueled the growth of global markets.

Analysts and brokers I have spoken to say there are bargains out there but the reality is that investing in this market is not for the faint hearted. It would be like jumping from a plane with leonardo da vinci's parachute.

In the US, the problem extends well beyond housing.

Railroads, chemical producers and insurance companies say the worst US housing slump in 16 years is crunching their earnings and it's not going to get better. In the good times, rising home values and low interest rates encouraged consumers to borrow money on their homes to buy cars, pay for home improvements and make other purchases. Many went for riskier adjustable loans to afford pricier, and more lucrative, real estate.

The party's over. With the housing market heading south, the home is no longer an ATM machine. And that will affect consumer demand and business generally.

"This problem is getting worse. It's not getting better,'' Mark Kiesel, executive vice president and money manager at California-based Pacific Investment Management Co, told Bloomberg.