The finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20, its members comprised of the world’s largest economies, met in Australia this past weekend. Although the gathering formulated no bold new plans, the G20 ministers warned of growing complacency among investors worldwide, fueled by low interest rates and low asset volatility.

Of course they helped to engineer these conditions with record amounts of liquidity—of which they promise even more if need be. We wouldn’t go so far as to call it a Frankenstein market, but the result has been high equity valuations and very low premiums on low-quality debt relative to sovereign paper, plus much talk of asset bubbles.

No question: numerous troubling developments globally could engender another financial crisis. These include a wobbly Europe butting heads with Russia over influence in Ukraine, a well-financed Islamic State fomenting trouble in the Middle East, and the prospects of an unchecked Ebola virus attacking more than 550,000 people by January, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

The stock market takes all of this in stride. However, we see some divergences creeping into the market that, if persistent, could forewarn of a significant setback. Consider the S&P 500, which closed last week at a record high above 2010. The blue chip average, however, increasingly travels in select company. While the S&P gained 1.25 percent last week, the Russell 2000 Index of small cap shares declined 1.2 percent and was down 5 percent from its high in July. A broader measure, the unweighted average of all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange also lost ground last week, but was down a more modest 0.4 percent and remains only 2 percent off its high. The Advance/Decline Line, another broad market guage, has declined for three consecutive weeks but likewise remains close to its peak.

Ideally, we like to see the broad market performing at least in line with the blue chips. The divergences at hand aren’t great enough to send us running for shelter, but do remind us of the need to remain vigilant given the bull market’s advanced age.

Quite a few investors, rather than wait around to see how events develop, are buying insurance in the form of put options. In fact, the Chicago Board Option’s Exchange’s SKEW Index, which measures expected S&P 500 tail risk—the risk of outlier returns two or more standard deviations below the mean in the coming 30 days—currently stands just shy of its highest reading in its 24-year history. Put simply, higher SKEW readings mean the market is pricing in a greater probability for a big decline in share prices.

Very high SKEW Index readings have often presaged sizable declines. In recent memory, for example, SKEW spiked ahead of a 7 percent decline in the S&P 500 in early 2010 and a 16 percent decline later that same year. It also forewarned of a 9 percent decline in the second quarter of 2012.

But high SKEW Index readings have also sometimes missed the mark by a wide margin. Its highest reading, in October 1998, occurred during the Russian debt crisis, but a Fed rate cut the next day sparked a rally that lead to a 35 percent gain in the S&P 500 nine months later. In late 2013, we witnessed another false signal, followed by only a very shallow 3 percent correction before the bull market resumed.

The current extreme SKEW reading may also prove to put option buyers wrong. Keep in mind that the current low level of stock market volatility greatly reduces the cost of buying put options, which may be distorting comparisons with previous SKEW readings. Nevertheless, given the present economic and geopolitical backdrop, one must be highly attentive to changing conditions. Should our proprietary indicators signal that the market is headed for trouble we’ll certainly alert you. But for now they suggest any near-term correction would be modest.

Slow global growth, low inflation, a strong U.S. dollar and low levels of volatility among various asset classes have eroded precious metals lately. Hardest hit has been silver, now at a four-year low, under $18 an ounce.

We wouldn’t write silver off, however. The latest round of selling looks technical in nature with traders prompted to exit long positions after the metal broke a widely watched support line. The supply of silver is likely to be relatively flat this year, while physical demand for the metal remains high. For instance, although they dipped slightly in the past week, silver ETF holdings have been trending higher throughout the year. Industrial demand is also still in great shape, led by the solar industry, which continues to expand by leaps and bounds.

We could see more short-term selling in silver in light of high investor pessimism. But any further decline is likely to be brief, while the metal’s long run potential is simply sky-high. The current selling in silver, even more so than with stocks, is shaping up to be an excelling buying opportunity.