Veteran investor Howard Marks says the abandonment of the WeWork float, the poor performance of US IPOs in 2019 and the punishment of bad news in US debt markets are all early signs that discipline is starting to return to financial markets, and investors may no longer be rewarded for holding the riskiest assets.

Mr Marks, the co-founder of $US122 billion ($179 billion) investment giant Oaktree Capital, also questioned the willingness of central banks to take interest rates negative, arguing the tactic risks penalising some groups in the global economy and fuelling populism.