Perhaps this is the reason why markets aren’t too concerned about the recent rise in the USD/CNY, either that or recent Chinese economic data — including Q3 GDP — suggests that economic conditions in China aren’t deteriorating sharply as was the fear earlier this year.

【翻译】也许，这就是为什么市场不太关注近期美元对人民币的升值，要么因为如此，要么中国近期的经济数据——包括第三季度的国内生产总值——表明：中国的经济形势并没有像今年早些时候出现的恐惧那样大幅恶化。

【分析】as was the fear earlier this year是as引导的方式状语从句。这是倒装句，也可以不倒装：

as the fear was (deteriorating) earlier this year

as引导方式状语从句是常见的语言现象，以前解答过这样的问题。请参见：

http://ask.yygrammar.com/q-21231.html